Thursday, November 24, 2011

Review: 'District 9' is gritty twist on alien refugees


District 9   R  
            The aliens came to Earth i the 1980s and have been living below a silent mother ship hovering over Johannesburg in South Africa, forced to live in slums under threat from the covert military and the obtuse but crazy gang lords. Peter Jackson produced it with director Neill Blomke, and they cast a bunch of unknowns, Dark gritty parable of slumlords and nasty totalitarian bio tech from the present fuse to make this nod to political strife as aliens under siege a brilliant eye popping, gore splattering carnival ride. Takes the slum dog idea and makes it Alien Nation were it directed by a master of gore and political satire. Hapless UN like spokesman is accidentally forced into hiding when he comes in contact with an alien bio fuel which turns him freaky. On the run from his own people and from the gangs that want his body for reasons of their own, he has no choice but to ally with a smart alien and his son who have control of a buried shuttle module and plan to put it to use for their escape from the camp. The aliens are called Prawns and look like giant humanoid shrimp. The name is a badge of insult. The totalitarian regime in control of the district wants to relocate the aliens to a crappy new camp. They've tried to make alien tech work, but it's partly bio activated and doesn't work for humans. Jackson's Weta workshop supplied the look and effects and made these aliens look ten times cooler than Lucasfilm in the new Star Wars. Not for young children. Earns hard R for graphic violence. Subtitles bring alien language alive but can be somewhat distracting. One of the best scifi movies of the decade. 
Review by Adam Browne

No comments:

Post a Comment