District 9 2009

     Violence ensues after an extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth.  They find a kindred spirit in a government agent exposed to their biotechnology.  In 1982, a massive star ship bearing a bedraggled alien population, nicknamed "The Prawns," appeared over Johannesburg South Africa.  Twenty-eight years later, the initial welcome by the human population has faded.  The refugee camp where the aliens were located has deteriorated into a militarized ghetto called District 9, where they are confined and exploited in squalor.  In 2010, the munitions corporation, Multi-National United is contracted to forcibly evict the alien population with operative Wikus van der Merwe in charge.  In this operation, Wikus is exposed to a strange alien chemical and must rely on the help of only his two new 'Prawn' friends.

     There is a more personal story about the bureaucrat named Wikus (Sharlto Copley) accidentally exposed to a DNA-altering substance.  As he begins metamorphosing into one of the creatures, Wikus goes on the run from scientists.  They want to harvest his evolving new parts but the aliens see him as a threat.  He teams up with an extraterrestrial secretly planning an escape from Earth.  What should be a fascinating relationship story becomes a series of firefights and explosions.  Nuance is lost to numbing violence and the more interesting potential of the film is muddied.  For a while District 9 is a powerful movie with a unique story to tell.  The seamless special effects alone are worth seeing.  There are often brutal exchanges between aliens and humans.  4* (I really liked this movie)

112 min, Action directed and written by Neill Blomkamp and also written by Terri Tatchell with Sharlto Copley, David James, Jason Cope, Nathalie Boltt Sylvaine Stirke, Elizabeth Mkandawie, John Sumner, William Allen Young, Greg Melvill-Smith, Nick blake, Morena Busa Sesatsa, Themba Nkosi, Mzwandile Nqoba, Barry Strydom, Jed Brophy, Lousi Minnaar.

Note:  Imdb 7.9* out of 10* with 642,385 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 90% with 314 critic reviews 82% with 250,000+ audience scores, Roger Ebert 3*, Common Sense Media James Rocchi, 4* out of 5*, age 17+, The Guardian 3* out of 5* Peter Bradshaw, Metacritic 81 out of 100 with 36 critic reviews 8.1* out of 10* with 1494 user scores, Amazon 4.5* out of 5* with 3,656 reviews, Letterboxd 3.7* out of 5* with 717 fans, RollingStone 3 1/2* Peter Travers.

Special Note:  After the feature film based on the Halo: Combat Evolved 2001, the 2001 video game series was to have been directed by Neill Blomkamp but this fell through.   Producer Peter Jackson went to Blomkamp and offered him $30 million to make whatever he wanted, although this would be Blomkamp's first feature as a director.  The result is this film.  A large number of actual South African weapons were used in the film.  Quite a few of them were designed by Tony Neophytou and are marketed by Denel.  This includes the NTW-20 20mm anti-materiel rifle, white painted CR-21 bullpup assault rifles and a Neopup PAW-20 hand-held grenade launcher.  Koobus uses this when he shoots the battle suit with the black hand-held grenade launcher.  The language used by the aliens (clicking sounds) was created by rubbing a pumpkin.  The first documentary style film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.

Mistakes:  When the MNU workers first walk up to Christopher Johnson's shack in order to evict him, the radio operator identifies the shack as "Yankee Foxtrot Five Three Zero," or YF530.  However, the number on the shack itself is FY530.  When Wikus is having his bandage removed at the hospital, the doctor is not wearing rubber gloves.  Any medical professional would be gloved (and probably masked) when cutting off a bloody bandage.  As the interviewed people are talking, their titles and names were placed on the screen. When one of the MNU officers is talking, LIAISONS is misspelled LIASONS.