Well I finally went to see it. And I don’t regret it. I have been worried about seeing another movie of that caliber because my screenwriting experience is really ruining everything for me. I now know the inner workings of story telling, the tricks of the trade, the hidden meanings.
It’s disturbing.
It’s making it very difficult to watch something and enjoy it “innocently.” So I tried to play it dumb while watching District 9, it worked … To a point.
The interesting peculiarities of this movie are subtle and I am sure that there are a lot of people viewing this movie who wouldn’t necessarily know why they like or dislike it.
The main thing is that this movie is clearly not Hollywood-made. And that makes a huge difference. Different rhythm, different story, different sensibility all around. It’s refreshing but it also emphasizes how much we are used to and influenced by the Hollywood-type of story telling.
In a weird way, I would also argue that the story is not about aliens at all. The issues at hand here are about humanity and/or lack thereof. Of course, the best Sci-Fi stories always weave classic human struggles in a fantastic setting. Here we are dealing with refugees, political and social unrest, ethnic cleansing and segregation. [To name only a few] The setting -- Johannesburg -- is the perfect location to explore those particular issues. And let’s not forget the subtle and yet obvious sprinkling of innuendos and cryptic references to something suspiciously similar to apartheid. [And district 6 for those in the know]
Wikus Van De Merwe is annoyingly failing as a human being every step of the way. Up until the end, he persists on being the anti-hero. As I said, this is not Hollywood and what happens to him at the end is as unsatisfactory as it can get. Christopher and his son on the other hand are from the beginning much more “human” than Wikus and dare I say it, the entire human race as it is portrayed in this movie.
Great variety of deaths all over the place, always entertaining. Love the weapons, the ship and all alien technology. I am just a sucker for that stuff. The bad Nigerian crew is just, well … bad.
And then there’s the cat food. Ingenious and disgusting. Loved it.
Finally I was impressed with the special effects. It was difficult if not impossible to differentiate alien puppets and actors in suits from full FX. Did the actors spend the whole movie talking to tennis balls? I just don’t know.
I keep reminding myself that they did this for only 30 million dollars. I don’t know if Halo with its overinflated budget of 150 million dollars would have been that much better. But that’s just my opinion.
Go see it.
