District 9 : Movie review

District 9 - Official Trailer 2 [HD] (External Embedding Disabled)

My buddy Foxhound and I went to see District 9 on Sunday and I have to say that I was more than pleasantly surprised. As a matter of fact, I couldn't believe how incredibly good it actually was! For a low budget movie (it only cost $30 Million to make) and the help of a great director, they really created something... New!
New and inventiveness is really hard to come by now-a-days, especially since it seems like EVERY movie is a remake or a rehash of an older movie, the original of which was usually better. So its really refreshing to see a story-line that I haven't seen a million times already.


I kind of went into this thinking that it was going to end up being just another flashy alien movie. . . but it was so much more.
It had a really good story that was told in almost... a documentary style during some points. Yes there was some shaky-cam, which I usually hate, but seeing as how those parts were supposed to be a guy holding a camera while crazy shit was happening all around him... it kind of made it work all that much better.
The special effects were Un-fucking-believable and the story was intriguing until the credits ran at the end of the film... and beyond that really.

It did have some political overtones, but they weren't shoved down your throat like a fat, veiny Hollywood cock. They primarily presented you with a situation and let you make up your own mind on the subject.

Also... I absolutely loved the fact that they didn't use any known actors. It really pushes the story along because you don't know what these people are capable of and you don't have any idea who is going to live or die.

Having somebody like Tom Hanks playing the main character would have ruined this movie (not that I don't love Tom Hanks).

I just think that when a popular actor is set as the main character it kind of takes away from the movie itself sometimes because you kind of go into the movie Knowing that no matter what happens... the main character (Mr. Popular) is going to make it to the end and more than likely save the day in some way or another. They always catch the bad guy, they always get the girl and they always save the day in the nick of time... usually with one second left on the bomb.

I'm not always a fan of CGI... mainly, because I think it is way over used in today's movies... but when its used in such a way as to become a tool to help the STORY along, instead of becoming the focus of the movie itself... it can be pretty cool.

The aliens in this movie for example, were all CGI, but because the story was so involved, you pretty much quit thinking about it within the first ten minutes of the film. Even later on in the movie when there were tons of action happening... the CGI and special effects took a back-seat to the storytelling.
The aliens were very believable and acceptable in their 'Conditions".

I give it 9 out of 10 smiley faces.

I would whole-heatedly recommend this movie to everyone... although I wouldn't recommend you take your little kids. Lots of blood and people exploding.

Sweet.