Director: Neil Blomkamp
Writers: Neil Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell
Producer: Peter Jackson
Starring: Sharlto Copley
MPAA Rating: R
Running time: 112 min
Synopsis:
After months of waiting anxiously for the theatrical release of Peter Jackson protege, Neil Blomkamp’s, sci-fi, apartheid, extra-terrestrial, intelligence film; it is finally here. From the moment the initial trailer was released some months ago, fans and critics have buzzed about little else as much as they have with District 9. The visuals appeared to be looking great, the story sounded interesting and the style was something new and original (or at least refreshing comared with recent sci-fi “epics”). The anticipation was almost intolerable and the expectations were through the roof what with all of the great and unique marketing that you’ve no doubt seen around your village. While there will be more coming in this week’s cinecast, Kurt and Andrew put our thoughts to paper to get the discussion thread going. So let’s get to it.
read our reviews below…
Andrew:
(3/5)
Let’s just get the obvious out of the way first, it looks great. Every bit of it looks amazing. Even the shotty bits that are intended to look a bit shotty as though shot by a news crew, look realistic as hell. The aliens, though they didn’t quite work for me as characters, definitely looked fantastic in terms of CGI and compositing. The action scenes are well played out and fairly intense. There is some aspect of Bay’s Transformers here simply because of the alien technology and there is one machine like creature at one point as well. But unlike Bay, Blomkamp has the sense to make things at least look interesting and imaginative. The weaponry here is seriously cool and makes much more sense to have these technological wonders at play rather than the standard bullets and grenades. So visually speaking, yeah everything looks really cool; from the weapons to the locales to the nasty gooey-ness of the violence and alien anatomy. But to be really honest, that’s about where the enjoyment runs out for me.
I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting but it certainly wasn’t inconsistency or story telling at mach 4. I suppose that I was looking for more of a movie about government agencies and refugee camps and racism. Instead I got an action movie disguised as a pseudo-documentary with bits of attempts at Shaun of the Dead or maybe “The Office” type of humor that just didn’t seem to fit. The movie flirts with working some interesting (and some not so interesting or rather obvious) thoughts and ideas into its premise but it either doesn’t expound upon them or simply assumes that what it was doing was sufficient and moved on to something else equally as fleeting.
A lot of the movie tells its narrative through the use of interviews from government officials, professors and even some “on the street” reactions from the populace. They’re giving their thoughts on what’s already happened so we get their opinions sometimes as a foreshadow and sometimes as an afterthought to events that we’ve just seen. This works pretty well as long as they stick to the two or three main interviewees. But occasionally new people will pop in and I’m think to myself, “who the hell is this guy?” Not a major distraction but certainly one nit-pick in a realm of many.
The biggest problem for me here was nothing to care about. There are zero characters in the movie worth rooting for. Sure we’ve got the worried wife and the alien child, but they’re minor characters. All of the major role players are annoying, weak and stupid at best and completely despicable at worst. Our “hero” (for lack of a better word) is pretty much annoying from the get-go. He’s a child sent out to do a real man’s job and he’s so obviously not up to the task. His humor is stale, his stature is feeble and pathetic, his street smarts are zilch, he’s naive and easily manipulated and his intelligence is questionable at best. Frankly, the acting isn’t even particularly up to snuff. The redemption aspect towards the end of the film is admirable and kept me on board, but otherwise what a terrible main character.
I see the harnessing of ideas from such greats as Starship Troopers, The Fly, Black Hawk Down, Aliens and obviously Alien Nation. Now maybe time will tell – and I am certainly interesting in seeing this film again once digestion has occurred – but for me District 9 never really captured my emotion or thought-provoking process as much as these previous films. So as much as I hate to say it, it was the action sequences and bullet dodging that kept me immersed in the movie. Without it, the other elements of which they were going for just weren’t fully explored and frankly a little boring.
Kurt:
(4/5)
Right out of the gate here, I’m going to commit one of the capital sins of criticism. I am going to review the film I wanted rather than the film that director Neill Blomkamp delivered. Perhaps it is a case of the original trailer for District 9 making a pledge the filmmaker was not committed to 100 percent, or simply a learning experience in screenplay writing, or the desire to indulge in some crazy technical special effects (Blomkamp’s original vocation) As a fan of ideas science-fiction, I demand that one cable channel or another take the promise of the opening two reels and denouement and make The Office slash The Wire slash Alien Nation that this film oozes style, intelligence and depth. This fictional TV series would very likely trump Battlestar Galatica which its tendency to drift into soapy space opera or religious mysticism. But I digress. There is way more to like about District 9 than to nit-pick, that this is essential a mid-to-low budget independent science fiction action blockbuster that looks as good as anything bought for $175 Million. Any aspiring aspiring to Steven Spielberg, James Cameron or Peter Jackson would absolutely kill to have this as their debut film. Yet, as a thematic sci-fi piece, it surrenders to a shoot-em-up action that simply ignores the Apartheid allegory so painstakingly established.
The huge alien mothership hovering above Johannesburg like a derelict angel. Does it demand faith of the poverty and stupid prawn population walled off in segregation below, that someone will come along and make right, or merely a hollow shell and a reminder of grandness? In leaning towards faith, that is what the viewer must have whenever the characters have to figure out language cues in the heat of the moment, or become acquainted with ridiculously complicated technological goodies simply lying around in a heavily patrolled military zone. The plot of District 9 when it kicks in, threatens to shatter the interesting world of social and moral problems laid out so elegantly in mock-doc multi-format media style. Yes, I wish the whole movie was a documentary and not trying to be the entire Alien franchise folded (yes all four of them) together into a single film.
Since District 9 is set in the present, I imagine that the aliens came to down, tired, hungry, devoid of their ruling caste and driving a broken-down vehicle somewhere in the late 1990s. Rapidly we jump 20 years of co-habitation in a single location in South Africa. Yes, there is the obligatory shady govermnet genetic research lab, but wither all the scientists and social workers? Where are the do gooders and the academics? The military and private corporate drone types (of which our hero, not unlike Greg Kinnear in Fast Food Nation, gets the usual awakening) have been interacting in close quarters and at length enough to develop the worst kind of casual racism. “Prawns” becomes the derogatory name of choice, but what is surprising is that in the middle of actual social Apartheid, nobody would notice a metaphor/allegory/analogy dropped in the middle of their lap. The implications of human hookers with Prawn-Johns(tm) is icky and scandalous and thrown into your face then simply dropped. Ditto on the classic cannibal theme of getting the enemies strength by ingestion. There are enough ideas and concepts in District 9 to power a small studio for years, and the technical prowess and aesthetics are indeed state of the art. But what does it all add up to? A great B-film. Boil away technical and aesthetic trappings and the establish documentary footage and you are left with something not too far off of Stargate or Independence day. Points are certainly earned for the turning the human/alien persecution on its head in a novel way, but the follow through is frustrating. Seeing all the crazy body-horror elements reminded me of David Cronenberg and Shiny Tsukamoto, but they used the extreme visuals to get somewhere, which is not the case here. In fact the trigger here is not the physical manifestation of divorce and motherhood (The Brood), total immersion in science (The Fly), media (VideoDrome) or the physical manifestation of guilt, sexuality and rage (Tetsuo). Not unlike the laziness of ‘Red Matter’ in the rebooted Star Trek as a spontaneous black-hole generator, our hero/doofus Wikus van der Merwe’s transformation by rocket fuel, one of the serious WTF plot moments in the film, feels like a convenient turn of events for the screenplay rather than a plausible scientific possibility.
All of my issues with the actual storytelling in the middle chapters, call them the Cameron moments, complete with military cams, heavy artillery fetishes, and yes a lifter-loader type contraption just are not told with the sophisticated narrative chops of James Cameron. The action is there in spades, but the human side is left to clichés well turned over in other movies. I also propose a full moratorium on Heads Up Displays, it was alright in Star Wars and Tron, but exhausting by the time Ironman came along). Yet, District 9 is such a brilliant show of technical and conceptual prowess, such a global breath of fresh air, part of me feels like an asshat for pointing out that it is not the masterpiece that the Tomato-meter seems to suggest. Sure the style and technique will be mimicked a lot for some time to come, and Blomkamp is certainly one of the most promising blockbuster filmmakers to come along in a while. I am fully aware that this film should be celebrated what for a blockbuster summer movie is absolutely top-shelf. But that trailer promised me a hard science fiction classic, and hard sci-fi this is not. I hope Blomkamp and company aim even higher next time, instead of the obvious choice of Halo.
Consensus:
There is a healthy amount of positive to consider in Neil Blomkamp’s debut feature, a film any science fiction filmmaker would be extremely proud to have on their C.V. Yet it the film is not perfect. We generally agree that the film is a failure in terms of living up to its initial marketing materials. Much of the chewing on the meat and gristle of the piece is merely the fact that the film is more action than hard science fiction. The satire in there is subtle, and frankly a bit unfocused. But yes, it sure looks nice on a relatively small budget for a sci-fi blockbuster and it has a brains and chutzpah in execution. Time will tell if this one ends up in the canon of the genre along with Blade Runner, the Alien Franchise, The Terminator and its first sequel. Perhaps this is a film that holds the devil in its detail and is worth more than a second look?
Relevant Links:
IMDb profile
Official Site
Flixster profile
Horray!
@ The implications of human hookers with Prawn-Johns(tm) is icky and scandalous and thrown into your face then simply dropped.
Imagine if the movie were a documentary about the prawns-prostitution racket. That would be awesome and mind blowing!
I liked the fact that there were all of these potential and realistic problems quickly glossed over by the news crews when talking about District 9. This is the kind of thing we would get. Rumors of prostitution, drug use, looting, weapons hoarding. Leave it to ’60 Minutes’ to do a full story on these aspects. Not sure it would’ve worked to put these things in the movie as a longer story arc.
I saw your comment in the other thread about my star rating for this and for Transformers. lol.
I think there were two reasons for my opinion on this movie.
1) It was 10am when I saw it. That was a mistake I think. My brain wasn’t quite ready to process images moving that quickly and such a potentially heady subject.
2) I didn’t know what to expect and I’m not sure even what I wanted out of this movie. I saw the first trailer with awesome visual and sort of an X-Files story idea along with a little bit of Hotel Rwanda or City of God thrown in. Dunno what was lacking or needed to be removed, but I really didn’t have a whole of fun with this movie and it really doesn’t give me much to think about in the long run – other than when the “Independence Day” like sequel comes. Will the aliens attack? Will they simply take their friends home or will they try to negotiate peace? Could be interesting.
Oh yeah and I seriously hated the main character. No one in this movie to like or care about or root for. I hate that.
@ Not unlike the laziness of ‘Red Matter’ in the rebooted Star Trek as a spontaneous black-hole generator, our hero/doofus Wikus van der Merwe’s transformation by rocket fuel, one of the serious WTF plot moments in the film
Hey, did you read my remarks at film junk?
@ I saw your comment in the other thread about my star rating for this and for Transformers. lol.
Nope. that was goon.
@ Oh yeah and I seriously hated the main character. No one in this movie to like or care about or root for. I hate that.
I really like the balancing act they found with Wicus. He’s loathsome but then there are scenes that humanize him to us. And the actor is believable the whole way through. He does comic buffoon. He does gritty desperation. He does the unlikely hero.
I don’t completely agree with Goon that Wikus becomes the “badass hero you can’t get enough of”. I think his ark is not quite that linear. Even by the end I’m not completely sure where my sympathies lie with him. But I appreciate a multidimensional character like that.
Like I said (or agreed with actually) in that same thread. He’s like a protagonist from Pete Jackson’s early career. That scene at the party is textbook early Jackson.
I liked the redemption of Wicus. Once he was on the side of right I was on board. And I didn’t find him funny at all. A buffoon, yes, but not very funny. Were they kind of going for a Ricky Gervais character there? If they were, fail.
Not to mention he was so fucking stupid it drove me crazy.
Andrew, did you see Time Traveler’s Wife yet? I did a District 9 TTW double feature.
Ha so did I. And yes, the review for TTW was up before this one.
http://www.rowthree.com/2009/08/16/review-the-time-travelers-wife/
@ Once he was on the side of right I was on board.
When was that? I don’t think there’s any point where he undergoes a complete change of heart.
Totally. When he’s in the alien lifter/transformer thing protecting Christopher Johnson (that WAS funny by the way, the name) so that he can get back to the ship and finally uses his power to fight the military. It seemed he underwent a transformation in which he finally accepts his new condition and realizes how horrible the gov’t is and what not. I thought he was 100% the good guy at that point.
whoa i didn’t notice that.
“Not to mention he was so fucking stupid it drove me crazy.”
Well, duh. He was, after all, a buffoon. He headed the operation because he was the son-in-law. He made a whole slew of idiotic decisions throughout the movie, some of which made you hate him for the time being, but really, as much as you hated him, you almost couldn’t blame him. “THREE YEARS? OKAY, SURE, SO I’LL JUST WAIT RIGHT HERE FOR THREE YEARS. SEE YOU WHEN YOU GET BACK.” Granted, he wouldn’t have been able to do shit when he got to the mothership without Christopher, but he was reacting without thinking.
And maybe the ending was a bit sentimental -I heard some people complain about that – but come on, anyone ever watch Blade Runner? Sentiment in movies isn’t always bad.
Oh, and the actor who played the lead role (a non-actor and childhood friend of Neill’s) was fucking awesome. Unbelievable. Seriously, my respect for Peter Jackson has multiplied exponentially for trusting Neill with all of his decisions, the leasing being casting a complete unknown, non-actor, and childhood friend for the lead role.
This is the best movie of 2009 so far, as far as I am concerned. And yes, I’m saying it’s going to go down as a science-fiction classic. And on a $30 million budget? Jesus Christ!
Here I was thinking this entire thread was going to be held hostage by Andrew and Rusty.
@ Here I was thinking this entire thread was going to be held hostage by Andrew and Rusty.
what do you mean? We were discussing the film quite civily.
In fact, it’s your remark that doesn’t add anything.
“we generally agree that the film is a failure in terms of living up to its hype.”
Maybe if certain people hadnt spent the whole summer deciding it was awesome before they’d seen it.
So here’s the worst review I’ve found. A guy offended on behalf of large corporations.
http://www.slate.com/id/2225285/
Let’s all discuss how pc special interest thugs have run amok.
“that trailer promised me a hard science fiction classic, and hard sci-fi this is not.”
um… how many trailers did you see? take another look:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6PDlMggROA
I don’t see how anyone can cry bait and switch. The trailer is at worst restrained, but in the best possible way.
“Let’s all discuss how pc special interest thugs have run amok.”
Ugh. So lets all just ignore the corporate overtones and make it not realistic, right? It’s not like Wikus could be seen as a FEMA type allegorical choice, a jab at the nepotism and personal family politics thrust into all levels of government and corporations, right? It’s not like Blackwater exists and is a point of reference. Sure the corporation is a ‘bad guy’, but a lot of the bad guy decisions are laid down to individual people doing their shit for different reasons, the mercenaries acting out their racism, the others acting to further their own career. Article conveniently ignores the black market bad guys. If theres any statement about what would happen in this situation it is that whoever would have to deal with this would probably fail.
This is a movie that opens itself to Children of Men -ish complaints from people about all the things in this world that could be covered that aren’t, as if that equals plot holes. Dave called it Veruca Saltism over on the FJ board and I’m inclided to agree. They want everything now now now and can’t use their own imagination. I guess these are the people who cause us to get Alien prequels where we get all the mystery of the aliens origins taken away..
You are right Goon, I’m not crying bait and switch, but man, oh, man the imagination was set free with the first (doco-styled) trailer. And that is indeed the first couple reels of the film, but then it goes all ‘action-shoot-em-up’ and well, I’ve seen all that before. The ‘loader-lifter’ scene was a great sfx demo, but kinda dumb where the story has gone at that point.
And I’ll agree with whomever said the lead actor was fabulous. He was.
The first trailer I think showed a more intruiging film. The second I thought pretty accurately portrayed the film without really giving anything away.
But really, I think even if I went into this film blind I would be disappointed. It’s not just hype and media campaigns, there is potential in the opening minutes of the film that is never realized.
Really, imagine if the film followed a prostitute on a run into District 9. That would be MINDBLOWING.
What I wanted was a big budget, feature length Alive In Joberg.
Kurt did you read my remarks over at FJ or did we both just independently make the “red matter” comparison.
I wouldnt complain about if it was its own doc, I’m just saying that what it DID turn out to be was completely thrilling for me, and I’m damn glad I finally got a summer blockbuster worth revisiting. We’re arguing ‘it was okay’ vs. ‘it was amazing’ and that seems to be lost already
I mean I dont think there’s any argument that this a film worth reexploring, rewatching, reading further between the lines, speculating. It’s the kind of movie you really could keep fleshing out, I’m glad there’s more you could do with this world, that you’re left wanting more, adn that there could be more to say. You could flesh it out through all sorts of media, and I’ll be interested to see what this films special features turn up like. I’d be shocked if there wasnt a lot of stuff they had to cut. This even seems like a candidate for the Jackson esque extended edition treatment.
I think a full length doc would be better served as a special feature than it’s own film. A lot of stuff you could learn of the world would be completely extraneous to an actual plot. They may enrichen the world but they don’t enrich Wikus’ or CJ’s story.
@ I mean I dont think there’s any argument that this a film worth reexploring, rewatching, reading further between the lines, speculating.
I agree. But I liked Star Trek too.
“there is potential in the opening minutes of the film that is never realized.”
I hope you can acknowledge that there are so many others out there that just hate the intro and love everything else. I’m seeing this a lot on the somethingawful forums especially.
There are two ends of people who wanted different things, it turns out to exist as something in the middle. What that means is you get a majority of people that liked it, a third to maybe 50% in full on love mode, and the rest divided on each end with opposite complaints
“But I liked Star Trek too”
I do intend on rewatching it. But I have extreme doubts that even if it pushes my 2.5/5 to the positive end of the spectrum that I’ll actually see what people like so much about it. I especially still don’t see what people saw in Chris Pine. Nearly Channing Tatum level bland.
@ I hope you can acknowledge that there are so many others out there that just hate the intro and love everything else.
I don’t have any problem acknowledging it. It just doesn’t matter to me.
I mean, some people love Transformers.
Like Andrew.
@ There are two ends of people who wanted different things, it turns out to exist as something in the middle. What that means is you get a majority of people that liked it, a third to maybe 50% in full on love mode, and the rest divided on each end with opposite complaints
yeah… but I’m right and they’re wrong.
You’re supposed to put an asterisk and then write Classic Campea Comeback when you do that, it’s kind of an established rule now.
Here’s a horrible review:
http://newsblaze.com/story/20090807123235mill.nb/topstory.html
@Rusty, great minds think alike. My own, I actually wrote the review Friday early afternoon, and it sat around before andrew published it with his.
Get this, after browsing the Film Junk comments, the first thing I thought when watching D9 was that the buffonish hero, Wikus Van De Merwe, was like a slightly more serious version of Flight of the Conchords Murray. (This might be a result of a lot of Conchords watching last week) I mean even the South African accent is ‘in the ballpark to a foreign ear’ to the Kiwi one. I could easily picture Rhys Darby in some bizarro world version of D9. (Here is hoping that the Conchords guys get this and do it in Season 3). So Goon, great minds also think alike. Ha.
If Murray from FOTC were to manage District 9′s 4th most popular folk comedy duo, he probably wouldnt do a better or worse job.
From Andrew’s link:
@ ” And while Merwe resists coming to terms with his inner alien but eventually gets turned on to his newfound notoriety wilding with the enemy, but in no way having creature sex with them as the tabloids have been charging, the oppressed metal-screeching monsters become simply oppressive.”
That is a pretty terrible sentence. In terms of writing yours wins.
In terms of opinions, mine with the bloviating jackass puffing himself up with outrage on behalf of multinational conglomerates unfairly persecuted by scifi movies, mine wins.
I love the episode where he books them at the library.
“guys we got a lot of noise complaints. People are trying to read.”
hilarious.
beating said refernce into the ground:
said group would be called Flight of the Prawnchords, and their rival group for Murrays attention would be the Crazy Prawnnz, with their hit single “Prawny Hop”
Speaking of which, that dude from Crazy Dawgs should not have been cast in The Wrestler.
I’m really good at not adding anything of any sort of substance to any sort of website whatsoever. Yar!
Alright petty snark aside(Rusty, please don’t call me out on shallow comments when you open this thread with one word), what the fuck does this mean?
“Racism provides the white guy with a very special growth experience.”
That’s from this review:
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/109859-district-9/
The film may or may not have been a loose allegory about apartheid but that statement is just loaded with dumb. Andrew’s and Kurt’s reviews are the only “negative” ones I’ve read that haven’t made me want to punch my monitor. I put negative in quotes because in spite of all the fist bumping, ya’ll seem pretty up on the film in general.
The only reason I’m calling you out for anything is because you claimed I was “holding the thread hostage”. I still don’t know what that means.
don’t like Todd Barry Rusty? I thought he was fine.
Just got home from seeing it. I liked it a lot, but I do think it’s been overhyped. I’m still working through the politics of it, though – not sure the apartheid allegory works all the way through as much as one hopes it would from the opening sequences.
For me, though I agree with Andrew in that there wasn’t too much reason to care about Wikus, I ended up emotionally involved because of Christopher Johnson. The moment when he started conversing with the other alien and working on the fuel was really when the film started engaging me. Before that it was interesting stylistically, but sort of offered more unfollowed paths than actual interest.
Kurt, the timeline is 1982-2010, based on the timestamps on the newsreel footage from when the alien ship first appeared, and on the camera footage at the end.
@ not sure the apartheid allegory works all the way through as much as one hopes it would from the opening sequences.
the robot battle suit with magic magnet weapons is a metaphor for…
I like District 9 a lot. We just recorded OVER AN HOUR long conversation about it for Cinecast 135 coming up. Gamble and I get in a shouting match on the film, yet our opinion of it is mere inches apart. It is that sort of film that in our ‘Love it’ ‘Hate it’ culture on the web makes for complicated conversation. I like the film a lot, it does nearly everything right. And I spent my review justifying why it is a 4/5 instead of a 5/5.
I await Blomkamp’s next movie in antici………pation. It better the fuck not be Halo. I want the equivalent ambitious 2001: A Space Odyssey from this guy.
@Rusty
“the robot battle suit with magic magnet weapons is a metaphor for…”
I just spit soda at my monitor. Seriously funny! Yea, you can certainly get caught up in this movie, when for long stretches it is mainly a top-shelf action picture.
@ I want the equivalent ambitious 2001: A Space Odyssey from this guy.
as a director. I came away from D9 thinking he doesn’t really have it in him as a writer.
And the thing to remember about Halo is that the film he’s been dying to do. So you can take Blomkamp out of Halo but can you take Halo out of Blomkamp?
And District is good over, it’s introduces a great new acting talent and the final action scene achieves moments of greatness.
But I’m not gonna back down or ignore it’s legitimate short comings. The documentary angle is handled poorly.
“I await Blomkamp’s next movie in antici………pation. It better the fuck not be Halo.”
Have you seen Blomkamp’s Halo shorts? They’re awesome. I would have no problem with a Halo film if it came from the same team behind D-9. My faith in Blomkamp/Jackson is much greater than any reservations I might have about the name of a video game franchise of which I know close to nothing about (story-wise) being attached to what would more than likely be another great/inventive action film.
Either way, he’s already said he isn’t doing Halo.
District Nine number one science fantasy picture for world! Seductive flavor of computer action made intrinsic by Jackson protege. Cerebral exploration of racial mistakes are satisfied true from allegory super film! Taste excitement the wise ticket purchase today!
He already said just this past week that he would absolutely not do Halo, under any circumstances, and Pete J. also reiterated that the other day.
@KwonSangWooFan – Awesome!
For a potential spambot, KSWF can string a sentence better than I can on most days.
Andrew– I told you that I thought this would go down as one of the best films of the genre. As I can see from a bit of looking at reviews and comments that does not seem to be on point.
So I will just take up one point with you: your dislike of Wikus, the main character, or any of the characters for that matter.
I think that Wikus as a main character is very original and smart for a few reasons:
1)He is very unlikeable, and he doesn’t even redeem his own selfishness until the very last action sequence. That we as the viewer are stuck with this horrible bumbling ass as our main pov for the movie is brilliant in my mind. He is like humanity–a total selfish ignorant fool– but he still posesses compassion and strength–it is just covered up by the fast food grab money culture. The irony of the anti-hero is played out in a completely unsentimental and flawed way. Hooray for that.
2)He plays the role of transformation from abuser to abused ( when he becomes a prawn) Like when he realized how much appealing cat food was than a hunk of poorly butchered cow. And he still remains oblivious. There is no lingering on sentiment of what an ass he was or any sappy moral notions. There is just his raw desperation. This utter lack of Hollywood-Disney moral epiphany is simply replaced by him stealing a cellphone and trying to score a burger and fries. The rawness of a man’s situation and conditions is beautifully executed, once again no sap– Blomkmamp leaves it to the viewer to discern his own social morality–that pleases me.
3)I thought his acting was very well executed, at least I feel he completely nailed the part that Blomkamp and his writers had in mind(though I assume). He did a great job of playing a peevish squirming asshole and still somehow you got the sense that there was a good character somewhere in his heart. Kind of like GW Bush.
Anyways there you go. The story was original and layered. I liked having a character that I totally hated be the main focus. Kind of refreshing. It’s like we all know how oblivious and selfish we can be as a species–but we still have to live with it and have the hope we can ascend our cruelty and ignorance.
I could say much more but I will leave it at that for now.
Hey Sim,
I agree and have little problem with having sort of an anti-hero as your main character. There’s nothing wrong with the main character being someone you can’t really relate to and maybe don’t even like at all. I guess my problem with Wikus is that not only is he unlikable, unfunny and annoying, but I don’t buy his character one bit. He is so completely over the top in his ineptitude that it’s just not believable he’d be put in charge of an operation like this. I get that he’s the son-in-law which is why he gets the job in the first place, but it’s not even believable that this guy would get a wife and rise to the level in his company that he’s in. His character is preposterous – and not in a good way (for me).
I direct you over here and listen to this review and see the comment thread over here:
http://www.rowthree.com/2009/08/17/cinecast-episode-135-i-want-a-korean-taco/
I find it terribly obnoxious to nit pick at something like a new person popping up in the news parts. Things that like that are there for people with common sense I guess…
Hey Nate,
If I’m understanding you correctly, are you talking about when I mention that I don’t really know or understand where some of the interviewees are coming from? I suppose it is a nitpick, but when you watch a “talking heads” documentary, you generally start to know who all of the people being interviewed are. The doc makers don’t usually suddenly insert someone new into the reference material without slowly introducing them as a character or explaining who they are. And if the person actually has something relevant and/or interesting to say, they’re come back to again and again. I can only remember two of the interview people that were like this in this film (and I really liked listening to them speak); the rest were just sort of thrown in there – though I want to watch the movie again and make note of who these people are.
@ Jonathan B. and Andrew:
Ok, so maybe the very end was sentimental. But hey that’s love sometimes.
Christopher Johnson: it’s obvious that that is a slave name right? Just like most of the African-American names currently. Just a nod to how Americans squashed a culture in ways like naming African slaves Christopher Johnson. I mean sure it happened to many different cultures not just Africans–Ellis Island for instance and the whole changing of names there.
So I hope I am not being a jerk in overstating this point but the funny and not so funny of “Christopher Johnson” is the act of not respecting another person or being because they are different than the majority ruling class.
Sim – why did you aim that comment at myself?
I agree with Kurt and Andrew, the film ultimately doesn’t pay-off on its premise, although it is very close, it goes, as someone here said, all Cameron Aliens-y (which for the record I am not a fan of either), and no amount of novelty or powerful visuals, in my mind, excuses this… it puts the catnip in front of you as to what could have been a very smart and edgy story and surrenders to shoot em up summer action picture. I preferred the documentary.