District 9

(please please please, if you were considering seeing this movie, just go see it. Don't read reviews or spoilers because you get more enjoyment out of it if it just surprises you and is unexpected.)

Okay here is the deal: District 9 is brilliant. It is the best movie this year. Yes, I thought it was more enjoyable than Up. And it took quite a bit of effort to prove to me that something could be better than Up this year.

So here's the basic basic premise: In an alternate time line to our own, a alien ship appeared over Johannesburg, South Africa. Soon they find Aliens inside, derogatorily called Prawns. They then move the aliens into a segregated district called District 9. The story is then about moving them from their current location District 9 to a new location, district 10. The aliens are refugees and can't get leave the planet Earth.

I've got to hand it to the Director/Co-Writer, he managed to(with the help from an amazing effects team) to create a living, breathing world that I truely believe exists. I watched the entire film and most of the time, the effects were so good, I couldn't even tell if they were CGI or if they we're just well designed animatronics. As it turns out its CGI, but it is still remarkably impressive. The other thing is that not since LOTR(which I am not a fan of) have I believed a CGI character was real. I think that's an atestiment to the story and the creative team.

The message of the movie may appear to be obvious at first glance, that its a reference to apartheid. This is true, but there is a much deeper and more important meaning in a broader sense that deals with the rampant and incessant hatred and attacks that is so common in today's world society. This message is important and has a real impact on our world today, not just America or South Africa, but the world at large is a hatred filed place.

Other things that are impressive is the acting. I swear, the actor playing Christopher Johnson is the next Doug Jones or Andy Sirkus. I hate that our society is formed so that such talent actors don't get nearly the work or respect but really these are the true skill workers of their craft. When I believe that CGI can be better than the people around them then clearly the actors are doing the very best job possible.
On top of that, the lead actor is really really good for a virgin actor. Virgin in the sense that this was his first movie. And yet he manages to portray this characters evolution and trials. When you see him at the beginning of the film, you really would probably want to kick the brown noser in the balls and tell him to grow a new pair. But by the end of the film you are rooting for the guy to succeed and get to live a real normal life again.

Without exposing the world to spoilers, I need to say that this is a great scifi story. It's certainly a heroes journey and the birth of universe that I highly doubt won't be visited again. And I am okay with that. Part of me wishes I could dive into spoilers so that I could tell you about some of the truly awesome moments. Those moments that make you verbally go "Wow, that was so cool" to some guy next to you that you don't even know. But that is what this movie evokes. That old school sense of unity among film goers. I get the feeling that no one in the audience knew what they were in for because every reaction was so real and we were loving every minute of it. This movie manages to do some truly original things and some rehashed ideas for the low low price of 30 million dollars. When you look at your average movie, it usually runs in the 75-90 million dollar range. And honestly this movie looks more professional and feels more complete than a great number of big budget movies released this year. I'm looking at you G.I. Joe, Watchmen, Wolverine, and of course that Bastard Son Transformers2:Roflcopter. I want this movie to make bank, but more than that I want it to prove to the studios that if you let the creators have real control and don't try to force feed us garbage we will not only love it, we will come back for more. I'm contemplating coming up with a way to see it again because it was just that great of an experience. And it's not too often that I see a movie that I still love after several days of contemplation and in all reality, this was truly a film EXPERIENCE.