District 9: Movie Review



"District 9" has been billed as a refreshing start to the scifi genre. Well this excites us more than knowing that it has been getting rave reviews from all over the world. How can one squeak out more creativity out of a topic that has been used over and over again? What really makes "District 9" different from other alien-themed films? But enough with the talk right? Read on to find out if "District 9" will live up to its reputation.






Around two decades ago, an alien mother ship arrived on Johannesburg, South Africa. Upon entering the ship, people were surprised to see that the aliens were all in ill-condition. Human nature boots in and humanitarian efforts are made to "save" these aliens and they are temporarily housed in a refugee camp called "District 9". Unfortunately, the peace between humans and aliens wouldn't last. Fast forward to present time and the humans have decided that they and the aliens cannot coexist on the same place. MNU (Multi National United) has been tasked to relocate the aliens 240 kilometers from Johannesburg to District 10. Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley) has been chosen to lead the relocation of 1.8 million aliens.

"District 9" for us is actually separated in two parts. The first half of the film felt like a documentary. If you have watched "Quarantine" or "Cloverfield"then this is how the first phase of the film felt like. We loved the documentary feel as it made things more believable, more human. The downside though is it dragged on to much. It may bore people as there was too much talk and none of the action we expected. The second half felt more like a traditional film where the main protagonist is trying to resolve his "predicament". Now this is where the film turns up the pace. The action was excellent, twists and turns in the plot happen and even a touching end to boot - this is what we expected from "District 9". The greatest flaw of "District 9" is that it was too imbalanced as it needs your patience for it to be great. You really need to sit down and wait for the second half as it is what really makes this film spectacular. The story was excellent and the overall execution was beyond par but since there were parts that were too slow, "District 9" just couldn't tickle our senses to give it a perfect score. Still, people should watch this just for the interesting twist on the alien topic we are so used to.

Rating: 3 and a half reels





Why you should watch it:
- has a new and interesting twist on the alien-human story
- the story has a surprising touching end to it

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- the first half of the film may be too slow and tedious and ultimately cripples this film for us.


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6 Comments

Comments

  1. wow! what a coincidence..your comment and your post.... I just got out of the cinema watching this movie with my brothers..wow!

    i find it gross and bloody..
    I'm not into this type of movies..hehehehehe...
    but I love how it had a feel of a documentary/reality show...

    tc!

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  2. i actually liked this film, its true to the original short film and a great story. to think, this didn't involve any big time actors, but they executed it perfectly. :)

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  3. Hi MalDeeTuh,

    Well to each his/her own right? :)

    Thanks!

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  4. Hi Anonymous,

    We actually liked the film - especially the latter part although we just didn't find it as wonderful as we expected it to be.

    And yeah, this film just shows that you do not need big name actors to make an impact.

    Thanks for commenting!

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  5. I was able to download a copy of this film from a torrent site. I really like it and want to watch it again in the theater.

    I think the first 15 minutes were boring but after that it will catch the viewers to the movie until the end. Looking forward for a part 2 also.

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  6. Hi Techguys!

    Yep! We found the film boring at the start but looking back, it was also what made the film special. The documentary feel really made it look and feel real.

    We hope for a sequel soon too and hopefully they can match the brilliance of the original.

    ReplyDelete