Wednesday, December 16, 2009

DISTRICT 9

DISTRICT 9 is one of the better sci-fi films I've seen in a while, although highly derivative, and marred by a weak, action-film ending.

Only a few minutes into the film I was reminded of ALIEN NATION as the film is about a colony of aliens who must adapt to living on earth. However, these aliens do not integrate quite as well. There are a lot of leaps of faith in the film. (Don't South African authorities know how to track someone using their cell phone signal?) But there are definitely interesting themes touched on in the film, most notably xenophobia. However, it does not all come together in the end.



As the final act begins, the main character human must don a metal suit to fight other humans, which is immediately derivative of ALIENS and ROBOCOP. For a movie that pretends to be intellectual for the first two acts, it does fall apart in the end. In fact, there isn't really even an ending, as the film implies more will happen in three years, almost demanding a sequel.

But it was still an interesting two hours.

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