District 9

• MovieSet.com review of 'District 9'

  Published on: August 14, 2009

  Movie: DISTRICT 9

  

  Synopsis: Over twenty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa’s District 9 as the world’s nations argued over what to do with them. Now, patience over the alien situation has run out. Control over the aliens has been contracted out to Multi-National United (MNU), a private company. The tension between the aliens and the humans comes to a head when an MNU field operative contracts a mysterious virus that begins changing his DNA. This man quickly becomes the most hunted man in the world, as well as the most valuable – he is the key to unlocking the secrets of alien technology. Ostracized and friendless, there is only one place left for him to hide: District 9.

  Stars: Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, Nathalie Boltt

  Written by: Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell

  Directed by: Neill Blomkamp

  Distributed by: TriStar/ Sony Pictures

  Opening on: August 14, 2009 Nationwide

   

  EXPECTATIONS

  What I’d Seen –Creative and unique bus shelter posters, billboards, posters and terrific non-traditional advertising warning of human only areas and numbers to call to report non-human loitering. A really innovative and interactive campaign that played on people’s fears of the strangers (or aliens) in this case and allowing them to report alien activity. I had also seen some terrific clips and the trailer which blurred the lines between film making and documentary film making. The trailer looked like a cross between a news report and amateur home video shot during a war.

  What I’d Heard – I’d heard from some lucky colleagues who had the opportunity to see it before me that I was in for a special treat and that I would enjoy the movie tremendously. They were right! I had also heard that the film was shot for a mere $30 million dollars… just based on the look of the trailer, I still can’t understand how they were able to do it so economically.

  What I Wanted – Something that would be a complete departure from the hackneyed and trite summer fare we are used to seeing. I was hoping for a thinking man’s sci-fi flick that would be fun and smart at the same time. I wanted to see something that was not based on a video game, a cartoon or graphic novel.

   

  EXPERIENCE

  What Turned Me On – The sheer size and scale of the set pieces and just how many actors were recruited to fill up the screen and to round out the story was amazing. The aliens were truly victims of circumstance and made to look as sympathetic as possible. Who thought I would identify with a creature that didn’t look at all like us.

  What Turned Me Off – As much as I hate to say this, there were some parts of the story that I felt could have been fleshed out a little more and made a little richer. Also, the main character was made to act a little too buffoonish early on so when he suddenly picked up a gun and started shooting, his transformation into a killing machine was a little bit of a stretch. I could not believe it ended as it did… Sure one is left wanting more… but so blatantly? Not cool.

  

  AFTERMATH

  I Left Thinking – This will put Neill Blomkamp on the map as Hollywood’s next ‘it’ boy. The visuals and action sequences were intense and the real human drama as well as the alien plight were perfectly captured without being overly sappy. District 9 manages quite handily to make a very simply premise of a movie big, bold and magnificent. The parallels in the movie with life in the big cities as it is today seriously calls into question our own programs to house and segregate the poor and migrants residents present in most larger cities. Hopefully this movie will inspire conversation on this topic and bring about change.

  I Left Saying – Amen. About time we see a movie that is original, fun and special. As well, I was thrilled that the movie was not based on a graphic novel, a comic book, a video game or a novel. It is a creative and magical departure from normal story telling. District 9 transports the audience to another time and another place without Earth look too desolate or ruined that it might not survive.

  Expiry Date – We have on our hands an instant classic. This movie will perform quite well opening weekend and will spark some healthy mid-week and 2nd week coin as well. It is however a sci-fi movie first and foremost so many of the more general audiences out there will not be going back to see it multiple times. Although seeing it twice will certainly help to catch all the parts one might miss the first time around. As soon as this movie hits the DVD market it will quickly become a must buy/ rent and will drive some brisk sales and rentals.

  Days later – I still think about just how great District 9 truly is. On so many levels it really is a terrific movie. It has a good story, great action, an interesting cast, a unique and unfamiliar locale (amazingly the movie does not take place in or is it shot in Los Angeles, for once!). The town of Johannesburg and the shanty town become as much a character in the movie as anything else. A true gem of a movie and one worth a trip down to the Cineplex.

  Enjoy the show and I’ll see you in line at the concession stand!

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• Vancouver visual effects studios manufacture District 9's alien look

  Published on: July 31, 2009

  By Marke Andrews, Vancouver Sun

  

   

  An alien from the upcoming science fiction film District 9. Three Vancouver firms helped design the special effects for the movie.

  Vancouver and its colony of visual effects companies has been involved as a minor player in many big-name movies. Hollywood studios often give a portion of the work on a film to a Vancouver VFX house, but send most of the work to California.

  However, for District 9, a Sony Pictures Entertainment sci-fi action adventure from Peter Jackson's Wingnut Films that is one of this summer's blockbuster titles, three Vancouver companies provided the majority of the 600 visual effects shots in the film, which opens Aug. 14.

  Image Engine created 311 VFX shots, The Embassy did 70 and Zoic Studios provided 30. The rest were done by Weta Digital, Jackson's New Zealand company, which was prominent in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

  Shawn Walsh, visual effects executive producer for Image Engine, believes the Vancouver domination of District 9's visual effects comes from the fact that the film's director, Neill Blomkamp, not only lives in Vancouver, but came out of the visual effects industry here and had confidence in the talent pool.

  "Neill had knowledge of our facility, having worked at other facilities and being a founder of The Embassy," says Walsh. "He mentioned to us that he saw Image Engine spike up in visibility in terms of film work.

  "Neill was quite keen on bringing the work to Vancouver."

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• District 9

  Published on: July 31, 2009

  By Tim Grierson

  

  Dir: Neill Blomkamp. New Zealand. 2009. 112 mins.

  A clever set-up falls victim to slipshod follow-through in District 9, a sci-fi actioner that starts out as a genuinely disturbing treatise on bigotry before devolving into a violent blitzkrieg that, while well-crafted, lacks the inventiveness of the story’s earlier sequences.

  Director and co-writer Neill Blomkamp’s occasionally probing parable of humanity’s callous treatment of a visiting alien race has obvious parallels with apartheid and inner-city poverty, but those thoughtful notions end up feeling like an excuse to get to the over-amped battle sequences which dominate the film’s second half.

  The aliens, which are rendered through visual effects and prosthetics, feel amazingly real from the first few minutes

  Opening domestically on August 14, District 9 may lack star power, but the film’s hip advertising campaign, effects-laden spectacle, and association with producer Peter Jackson (The Lord Of The Rings) will be three major draws. The last time a studio released such a high-concept, no-star sci-fi film was Paramount’s Cloverfield ($171m worldwide) in 2008, and Sony will need similar word-of-mouth to help drive repeat business.

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