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Wednesday, August 12
District 9
Things Fall Apartheid
Trailers & Mo | Official Website
The Peter Jackson produced Halo flick didn't happen, but that loss turned out to be every movie lover's gain. The studios didn't have much faith in Jackson's pick for Halo's director, so instead of walking away with nothing ventured, he and said pick, Neill Blomkamp,+ a meager 30 mil budget, turned one of his short films (see 'Short Shorts' below) into a full blown, wholly original (with evening shades of E.T., Enemy Mine, V, Contact, Tsotsi and anything futuristic by the genius Paul Verhoeven) and wholly kick a$$ feature that purty much blows away most of the other so-called blockbuster entertainment that hit theaters this summer. With no big names on the marquee, the money was poured into the yumcrdible effects work, and it's amazing how far that money went considering Transformers 2 cost 170 mil more to make and their effects work was, to put it slain and pimple, shit
District 9 takes place in South Africa and it's no secret that the film is one giant parable for apartheid and the rampant racism in that country. Instead of a million blacks sectioned off into one gigantic slum, separated from the rest of 'proper' society, D-9 is filled with a million space aliens, referred to as 'prawns' due to their crustaceany appearance and bottom-feeding ways. Our story begins, in a jarring documentary type style, filling us in on how these unwanted visitors one day appeared on Earth, got stuck here with no answers as to why or how, and eventually became such public pariahs that they had to be quarantined off from everyone else. Then the story shifts to the now, when a large corporation that specializes in weaponry wants to shut down the slum, move the beasts further away from the big city and into another area for better control. That's where we meet our reluctant hero Wikus Van De Merwe (acting novice Sharlto Copley), with the cheery disposition and blind optimism of both Michael Scott and Murray Hewitt, who is tasked with serving the eviction notices. His job purty much sucks, and the ruff and tumble evictees don't make it any easier
At first, we as an audience are disgusted and scared by the aliens' look and garbled speech, but then midway thru the movie the magic is slowly unveiled, and as the tables are suddenly turned on our man Wikus (we wouldn't dare tell you any mo as to not spoil any of the fun fun fun!), we start to look at the aliens in an entirely new light and are forced to reexamine our own prejudices. Woooah! Nobody asked for such brainy goodness to be wedged into a wicked action flick, but what does one expect when it was made outside of the (mostly) brainless Hollywood system? It's purty brainless if you ask us that they were unable (to trust Jackson and) recognize that Blomkamp was totally capable of delivering a big budget summer movie, hispecially since he delivered one of the bestest we've seen in ages, with no big budget in which to speak of
We Wear Short Shorts: here lies Blomkamp's short film Alive In Joburg, which is free of any D-9 spoilers and totally worthy of yer eyes & thighs
Verdictgo: Breast In Show
D-9 grinds at a theater near jews this Friday
and until next thyme the balcony is clothed...
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