District 9

We've been meaning to see Harry Potter VI since it came out in Sydney, and failing each time. For our most recent failure, we actually made it to the cinema, but too late for Potter, and so saw District 9 instead.

It was an excellent choice.

Set in a similar, but different, South Africa, District 9 tells the story of an Alien ship that came to a halt above Johannesburg in 1982. After hovering mid-air for a few months, it was finally cracked open to reveal hundreds of thousands of starving, dying aliens. In a massive humanitarian effort they were moved to Earth and settled in District 9 just outside of Jo'Burg. Now, in 2010, the numbers in the camp are approaching 2 million; the camp is a slum, there is endemic crime in the area (from both the aliens and the Nigerian criminal elements who have moved in to scam the camp inhabitants) and the local humans are demanding that Things Change.
( Contains spoilers for the first half of the film )

I watched a good third of the film with one hand half-obscuring my face (a style perfected through years of Doctor Who), and I think I may have bruised Mr Brammers's arm, I was just so anxious and unable to predict what would happen. It's a bloodier film than I would normally watch, but one with such intelligence and wit behind the bloodiness that I was more than able to cope with it (and I mean genuine wit, not the Tarantino-esque facsimiles so often attempted by hyperviolent films). The violence was not without reason, and the choppy hand-held camera work of the first section segues seamlessly into a broader filmic view for the majority of the film.

The performances were spectacular, as was the script. The team who produced it had worked on the project for some years before they obtained funding from Peter Jackson, so the film comes with high-quality Weta CGI, but with the genuinely good storytelling that is beaten out of most big-budget films. On the night we saw it, a good half the audience were young boys expecting a Halo-esque action flick, which they got, but which came with a side-serving of thinking. The other half were people like me, who came out satisfied with our political fixes, along with the enjoyment of an excellently paced action flick. If you're a fan of anything from Cry, the Beloved Country to The Fifth Element, you'll love District 9, too.

District 9

We've been meaning to see Harry Potter VI since it came out in Sydney, and failing each time. For our most recent failure, we actually made it to the cinema, but too late for Potter, and so saw District 9 instead.

It was an excellent choice.

Set in a similar, but different, South Africa, District 9 tells the story of an Alien ship that came to a halt above Johannesburg in 1982. After hovering mid-air for a few months, it was finally cracked open to reveal hundreds of thousands of starving, dying aliens. In a massive humanitarian effort they were moved to Earth and settled in District 9 just outside of Jo'Burg. Now, in 2010, the numbers in the camp are approaching 2 million; the camp is a slum, there is endemic crime in the area (from both the aliens and the Nigerian criminal elements who have moved in to scam the camp inhabitants) and the local humans are demanding that Things Change.
( Contains spoilers for the first half of the film )

I watched a good third of the film with one hand half-obscuring my face (a style perfected through years of Doctor Who), and I think I may have bruised Mr Brammers's arm, I was just so anxious and unable to predict what would happen. It's a bloodier film than I would normally watch, but one with such intelligence and wit behind the bloodiness that I was more than able to cope with it (and I mean genuine wit, not the Tarantino-esque facsimiles so often attempted by hyperviolent films). The violence was not without reason, and the choppy hand-held camera work of the first section segues seamlessly into a broader filmic view for the majority of the film.

The performances were spectacular, as was the script. The team who produced it had worked on the project for some years before they obtained funding from Peter Jackson, so the film comes with high-quality Weta CGI, but with the genuinely good storytelling that is beaten out of most big-budget films. On the night we saw it, a good half the audience were young boys expecting a Halo-esque action flick, which they got, but which came with a side-serving of thinking. The other half were people like me, who came out satisfied with our political fixes, along with the enjoyment of an excellently paced action flick. If you're a fan of anything from Cry, the Beloved Country to The Fifth Element, you'll love District 9, too.