District 9: Official Site
There’s an old show business adage that says, “No one ever got fired for saying no.” If that’s true, whoever said “no” to Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp should get an inaugural boot out the door.
District 9, opening nationwide this Friday, August 14, wound up as something of a consolation prize to Producer Jackson and Director Blomkamp. Jackson had pegged Blomkamp to direct his big-budget live action adaptation of the Halo video game series, but shortly after pre-production work began in earnest, studio support suddenly evaporated. Still determined to make a film with Blomkamp, Jackson offered him the opportunity to continue with a different project, albeit on a much smaller budget. Jackson was initially attracted to Blomkamp because of his commercial work and his intriguing short film Alive in Joburg (see clip below), the concept of which was rather hastily expanded into District 9. “It happened very quickly,” said Jackson at the D9 Comic-Con panel. “We woke up in the morning thinking we were making Halo, and we went to bed that night making District 9."
If you haven’t already gathered from the enigmatic trailers or the rapidly growing buzz surrounding the film, District 9 is the official designation for the area where a race of insectoid aliens has been interned since their sudden arrival in a massive ship over Johannesburg, South Africa some 20 years ago.
What else?
Doesn’t matter. That’s all you need, or should want, to know. Chances are it won’t be what you expect, and that’s a good thing. It may be aggravating, but this is truly a case where any review of D9 should remain intentionally vague. Seriously, no one is doing you a favor even offering spoilers, and compelled as I am to already start discussing the film, it’ll have to wait. It’s not as if knowing more would destroy the film—I had already inadvertently gleaned a significant plot point that’s hinted at in an early cut of the trailer—and no, there isn’t any (trite) plot twist to give away. But, there is a degree of purposeful mystery surrounding District 9. If there’s anything to be said for allowing a first viewing to unravel in its own time, then it’s particularly true in this case.
Shot as a pseudo-documentary, the most immediately captivating aspect of District 9 is its visual believability. Copious visual effects, courtesy of WETA, are seamlessly spliced into handheld footage with more subtlety than any film to date. The style is a direct evolution of Alive in Joberg and, more significantly where action is involved, Blomkamp’s series of Halo 3 promotional shorts, referred to collectively as Halo 3: Landfall.
Even if it feels a bit familiar at times, this frenetic cinematography has never felt so appropriately suited to the material as it does here. Were it not so enrapturing, the incessant use of jump cuts (not a wipe in sight) between broadcast news footage, closed-circuit camera feeds, combat infra-red, and third-person handheld shots would have felt positively manipulative. It’s not as if we haven’t seen use of handheld a la “shaky-cam” before, i.e. Cloverfield and Blair Witch, or even seen it used well, i.e. Children of Men and Saving Private Ryan. In fact, it’s prevalent enough now that just the mention of “shaky-cam” has begun to elicit audible groans from online forums. So, in this sense, the “groundbreaking” label being applied to D9 seems unwarranted.
Still, the style here has found a home with Blomkamp that’s as effective as, if not superior to, those predecessors. It may not be flawless, but for all of its visual prowess, it does seem effortless, unlike other summer Schlock-busters like Transformers 2 and G.I. Joe that grab you by the nape and scream, “Look at this. Look damn you! We spent $5 million on this 20-second sequence alone, and by God, you’re gonna know it!” More effectively than any slo-mo dreck on a 100-foot-tall 4D Imax screen, it pulls you in by its very unobtrusiveness, all on a budget of only $30 million (Hollywood should be ashamed).
Beyond visuals though, District 9 has a heart and a brain, replete with none-too-subtle social and political commentary. It’s by no means inconsequential that Blomkamp (who grew up in Johannesburg) and co-writer Terri Tatchel have their aliens land within an apartheid government or that the film was shot in a genuine shanty town slum. Nor is the cabal of MNU, the film’s colossal defense contractor, and the impunity of its unaccountable privatized military force coincidental (we’re looking at you Haliburton and Blackwater). It’s always satisfying to see such a viscerally enticing film still be able to fire on multiple layers, all while juggling such significant emotional dynamics.
Still, none of that depth is required reading. If you want to simply turn off and enjoy the ride, that’s available, too, in spades. Add to the mix some comic relief, severed limbs, exploding sacks of protoplasm, and the first glimpses at a potentially vast new sci-fi universe, and you have a movie with very wide appeal. Although, given the collective sci-fi and anime that serves as loose source material, this appeal only makes sense. Even so, there’s nothing close to resembling artistic theft in this film, and it’s the synergy of these influences, rather than the sum of their parts, that’s significant.
It’s an imperfect world, though, and, true, in spite of everything that’s good about D9, it does have its thin patches. Maybe that’s an inevitability of Jackson and Blomkamp having to go to war with the army they had, rather than the army they initially wanted (Rumsfeld reference intended). It’s not as if the film feels slapdash—absolutely the contrary, given its rapid gestation and minimal budget. But there are moments when characters can feel a little over-the-top black or white and instances when the script does fall into familiar sci-fi/action traps like improbable coincidences, implausible comprehension of alien technology, and miraculous invulnerability to fusillades from hitherto dead-shot marksmen. It’s because of the film’s very successes though that these moments feel out of place; it’s engrossing enough that having to actually suspend disbelief becomes distracting. Fortunately, it’s all only worth a “cake and eat it, too” afterthought, since occasional cinematic cliché winds up feeling forgivable in a film that works this well.
But ultimately, I feel a little guilty: District 9 is so satisfying that I can’t help but be disappointed about the Halo that might have been. Of course, Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp prefer not to think of it that way. They’re happy with the film they wound up making, and rightfully so. They prefer then to think of it as fate. And perhaps that’s accurate, because the film they’ve created is great by any measure. After District 9 becomes the highest grossing film of the year (mark my words), there will almost certainly be a District 10, and perhaps even a third film. So, with the introduction of a new universe so rich with potential, is it too grand to think that instead of just getting Halo, fate gave us much more? Something that could turn out to be, dare I say, this generation’s Star Wars? No, you’re right, there’s no way a low-budget first film from an unknown director, with breakout performances from an unknown cast, could ever reach that level of success. So for now, go see District 9 and enjoy it for what it is, not what it could be. Expectations can be too hard to live up to. Don’t wait for it to come out on DVD. It’s almost certainly a film that’s going to lose much of its impact in transition, even on your beloved Blu-Ray. It’ll feel too pedestrian on a small screen, becoming too much like a real news report and not nearly as immersive. It’s a film that’s best enjoyed in the cinema, on a big screen, with inescapable surround sound…at least for the first five or six viewings.
Special thanks to the Ain’t It Cool News organizers of an August 10th NYC screening of District 9. Without them, this review wouldn’t have been possible.
Kevin Blackwelder is an over-trained and under-emplyed actor in the NYC area, and apparently now also a freelance blogger and film critic. Please, be gentle.