Per the usual standard, no spoilers in my reviews.
First off, Peter Jacksons name on the posters and adverts can just fuck right off. He didnt do shit but poney up some dough and produce it, his name is strictly there as a marketing tactic. He didnt write it or direct it, I hate it when they do that put some big shots name on something for not doing shit. District 9 was written and directed by Neill Blomkamp whos other movies Tempbot and Alive in Joburg I have never seen, infact I never heard of him till now. Just incase you dont want to read the whole review then you can get my impression of it by me stating, this movie appealed to the squishy bits of the pleasure center in my gray matter like I was blasted with a double barrell shotgun loaded with handjobs.
Direction: What can I say besides it was terrific? Not astounding or magnificent but it was pretty damn good. I was slightly annoyed though by the fact its shot guerilla style which means shaky cam or documentary style but the entire movie did feel like you were watching a news story to be honest so I guess it fit its style pretty well. I think the whole documentary style of filming is standard for lower budget CG dependant movies since the constantly moving camera can hide of alot of deficincies is fast moving or big effect shots. But the direction was still really good and had some really neat shots in there that showcased some nice scenes. Nothing ever felt to fast or to slow visually, everything was well lit and everything was framed up just right or just not right enough. It certainly didnt have the visual flair of like say Stanley Kubrick in the style of direction but it was still very solid for this kind of movie.
Acting: Again I give 2 thumbs and a boner up much like I did for the directing. Everyone in this movie had their acting chops, no one felt 2 dimensional, no felt forced, no one felt fake, especially the main character I thought were great. Our focal point for the movie was Wikus who went through various personality shifts as the story progressed and the fellow playing him made those shifts just fine. Even the aliens tended to have their own personality traits and they were just fucking CG. But I honestly didnt ever considering someone out of character and they all fit the story very nicely. Usually every movie has one person not as good as the others or you have a character written poorly or just feels plain out of place, not in this film.
Storyline: The story on the surface is pretty simple and borderline cliche but it quickly takes a nose dive into a meaty inner portion where it becomes more interesting and turns into something you werent expecting to see. I guess thats part of the beauty of this movie, A- I didnt know what to expect to begin with, B- about 30 minutes into the movie I thought I knew what it was about but then again it turned into something else. This movie really followed the classic literature standard of being 3 acts. Storywise when it was said and done I could not find another movie to compare this one to, I just hadnt seen anything quite like District 9 before. I guess I was really surprised by how right from the start till the end they never once "had" to explain anything, the entire movie felt like it was all very plauseable and real, nothing needed explanation and was presented in a very matter of fact way. I was thrilled to death to finally see a movie about aliens coming to earth and them not fucking landing in America, paticullary in Washington or New York, Im fucking sick of everything hollywood doing has to involve America and some backdrop showing the American flag galantly flowing off to the side or some shit, there are other places in the fucking world besides the USA. The setting this takes place in a pleasent surprise and certainly suits the movie nicely.
Effects: Well the audio effects were great in the movie. Everything had its own approriate sound and the aliens themselves sounded like you would expect them to, they didnt sound fake or weird at all. Explosions packed a nice punch and the music (what little was there) fit the film nicely and was exactly what music should be to a movie, it was there to enchance the film without being really noticed. The visual effects were fucking great, but you have to understand something, I fucking hate CG effects they rarely ever fucking work for a movie and are very even more rarely are believeable or approriate, Im just a proponent for old school practical effects (especially when it comes to horror). But the effects in this movie were great. They managed to show multiple, tall, details aliens in broad searing daylight and I never once thought "fuck that looks like ass". Everything looked really good, aside from a couple times you could tell it was CG everything looked good and fairly believeable. I was able to suspend my disbelief inspite of CG effects during the entire film and thats a rare feat to accomplish with me.
Overall: This is one of the most unique movies Ive seen made in the past 10 years easily and is easily one of the best movies Ive seen this year yet. If you like story, characterization and good sci-fi then you should like this.
I give it 9 out of 10 stars.
Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/district9/
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