District 9 (Movie)

Movie Release Date : August 2009

DVD Release Date : December 2009

Genre : Sci-Fi

Length : 112 minutes

MPAA Rating : R Overall Rating : 6*/10

. The "sleeper" movie of 2009, District 9 was a low-budget movie with a largely unknown cast, that ended up being nominated for four Academy Awards. . The film is set in Johannesburg, South Africa, where an immobilized alien mother ship is found to contain a couple million emaciated insectoid aliens. They are brought to earth, resettled in a slum, but years later, our humanitarian attitude has soured, and it is decided to evict them and resettle them out in the boonies. A dimwitted bureaucrat named Wikus (Sharlto Copley) is put in charge, but he becomes contaminated with an alien elixir, and begins to transform into one of "them". . What's To Like... It's a novel twist to depict bug-like beings (perjoratively called "prawns") as the oppressed, and we humans as the inhumane oppressors. It's no coincidence that this was set in South Africa, where apartheid was practiced until very recently. Indeed, the forced eviction is based on a historical event, where white South African forces tried in the 1970's to move tens-of-thousands of Blacks out of District 6 in Johannesburg. . The first part of the film is shot is "documentary" style, which presented the story effectively, but was a little bit too "Blair Witch Projecty" for me. And although the central theme (Xenophobia) is a worthy one (especially here in Arizona, with our hate-filled anti-immigration laws), the film seemed to have tunnel-vision about it. Finally, there's no getting around it, despite oodles of special effects, this was a low-budget film. . Nevertheless, I liked it. It won't take the place of a sci-fi epic like, say, Starship Troopers, but it had a good message. My big wish would be for someone like Spielberg to wait five years, then do a re-make with big money thrown at the special effects. Six stars. .

- 2nd Opinion -

Liz thought this was a wretched movie. Halfway through, she gave up and read a book instead. So this probably isn't the DVD to buy the missus for Valentine's Day or your Anniversary.