Is Johannesburg a Synonym For Overrated?
District 9 is a 30 million dollar science fiction/mock-doc that looks like it cost way more. Unfortunately, it still picks up some of the nasty habits that plague any would-be blockbuster. It starts out pretty smart: the idea of using aliens as a stand-in for any oppressed group of people on our planet is interesting, if not entirely fresh feeling. The mockumentary style also works.
So what’s the problem? The second half of the film entirely forgets the first half. Did we really need all the gun fights and explosions? Wasn’t there a better and more intriguing film just ready to burst out?
I admit that I felt bad for the aliens almost immediately, which is a testament to the visual design of the creatures (I assumed that Weta did all the visual effects - but they couldn’t with a certain $300+ million project to handle - the Candian Image Engine does a stunning job here). But by the end of the film, I actually found myself becoming detached from the same aliens I cared so much about initially.
Some people say this is the greatest sci-fi film in some number of years. Really? Star Trek came out this year. You lose.
