District 9 a waste of time? (District 9 (DVD))

Member Name: dididave

Product:	District 9 (DVD)
Date:	06/09/09 (61 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good action sequences, interesting moral ideas.

Disadvantages: Terrible (and I mean terrible) acting, disjointed.

When an alien race finds itself marooned on earth they are fortunate that a caring humanity give them refuge and their own land in South Africa known as District 9. Years on however, these prawn-like creatures are seen as a resource eating nuisance and live in slum conditions. The subject of abuse from a corrupt government and Nigerian gangs they are about to be relocated to the even worse District 10. Fortunately, they may well have found themselves an unwitting ally in government stooge Wilkus who finds himself exposed to a DNA altering gas. As he becomes more alien by the day will he become their Saviour?

I don't really get District 9. It seems to have gone down well with almost all film audiences and critics but I feel like I must be missing something. I think maybe a lot of it is because it has strong apartheid references and themes. The alien's enforced segregation and mistreatment so clearly reflecting the issues that have occurred in South Africa over the years. It obviously a subject close to native South African fledging Director Neil Blomkamp's heart and kudos to him for attempting it. However, this does not forgive the fact that large parts of this film are bloody awful.

Take the aliens for example. How dreadful are they! They look like something out of Doctor Who. Not even the modern Doctor Who either. We are talking Tom Baker era special effects here! The whole thing is very much low budget made for television sci-fi. Now I like my B-movies as much as the next guy but they have to make up for it with a decent plot and acting and for me District 9 has neither. A strong theme and an interesting moral undercurrent? Certainly but it is lacking a decent narrative and there is a randomness to events that never quite knit together.

A lot of this is down to the terrible acting from unknown lead Sharlto Copley as the bewildered Wilkus. His abrasive, over the top performance is the most annoying I have seen on screen in many a year. I am still trying to figure out were the accent is supposed to originate and as a serial swearer myself, even I got bored of how many times the man could fit varying screeches of "fuckin" into dialogue. In fact, the dialogue in general was awful with a weird mix of subtitles thrown in just to confuse matters further although subtitles for Wilkus would have helped! Things are not helped by a lifeless supporting cast and it says a lot when the most understated performances come from the aliens.

Not that District 9 is a complete loss. I loved the action sequences which were very reminiscent of Aliens in style and Robocop in levels of gore. This is certainly a bit of a gore fest with lots of legs blasted off although very much in comic book style. The action is definitely the high point of a film that seems to be not as good as the Internet hype has suggested. Large portions of it seem unintentionally funny which is a shame as this is an intelligent film which does try to question humanity. It just suffers from some terrible acting and a disjointed feel.

District 9 is not the worst sci-fi film you will see but it is by no means a classic and is nowhere near as good as I was expecting. I found it annoying more than thought provoking. Although, much like the aliens of the movie, I seem to be in the minority.

Summary: Not as good as the hype.