Susan Granger’s review of “District 9” (TriStar Pictures/Sony)
“Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson produced this edgy, provocative sci-fi thriller in which aliens are brought to Earth after their enormous spaceship stalls, hovering ominously over Johannesburg for 20 years. Muddled and malnourished, its tall, insect-like inhabitants are transported from their craft to live in squalor, confined in a filthy shantytown called District 9. Their fate is placed in the hands of government bureaucrats who dismissively refer to them as “prawns” because of their resemblance to giant crustaceans. Starved and segregated from humans, they begin to multiply and, eventually, pose a threat to South Africa’s capitol city, particularly since superstitious Nigerians have taken to feasting on prawns, believing this act of consumption will endow them with supernatural powers.
That’s when a blithering Afrikaaner bureaucrat, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Coplay), is placed in charge of evicting the refugees – by force, if necessary – to a distant location, known as District 10. But complications occur when Wikus discovers a canister of mysterious fluid which he accidentally sprays on himself, only to discover to his horror that he’s gradually turning into a prawn. Hunted by his employer, Multi-National United (which has been conducting secret medical experiments on aliens), because his craw-like arm can now operate a mysterious intergalactic weapon, Wikus is befriended by a prawn called Christopher (utilizing stop-motion capture by actor Jason Cope) and his child who are embarking on a secret mission.
Jackson’s protégé, first-time director Neill Blomkamp not only tells a grim, compelling tale (which he co-wrote with Terri Tatchell) in a satirical mockumentary style but creates genuine compassion for the CGI creatures inventively designed by New Zealand’s WETA Workshop (co-founded by Jackson), executed by Vancouver’s Image Engine and photographed by Trent Opaloch. Eventually, the cat-and-mouse game takes over with all-too-numerous chase-and-shoot sequences, culminating in a ‘Transformers”-like robot battle – with additional familiar touches from “E.T.,” “Alien,” “Iron Man” and “Starship Troopers.”
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “District 9” is a savvy, explosive 8, serving as a pop allegory for the racial tension of apartheid.
