District 9 Review

This is not an easy film to review, but here is my disjointed perspective anyways:

You can't write about this film and not infuse your review with the politics involved so here we go. I would have to praise the film for bringing a form of political realism to the table. We live in a world where politics and issues are far from Left or Right, Black and White, or Good or Bad...no matter how hard we try to present them that way. The people presented on both sides of this story are never clearly shown as the good aliens vs the bad military regime. The main character himself shows a certain conflicted, and at times purely selfish, morality, and the director Blomkamp is able to effectively have us be disgusted with him at parts in the film and root for him at others. The aliens obviously have their problems as well, infected with their own dose of degenerate behavior, and a seeming disinterest in integrating themselves in this new culture they find themselves in. Yes they are clearly marginalized by the government and local community, but they also marginalize themselves. I find this realistically muddied take on things to be refreshing, and feel that every time I watch this film it will reveal a new layer.

On the other side of the camera, I was impressed that Blomkamp and crew were able take us from mockumentary to documentary to thrilling action film seamlessly. This was clearly a stylistic decision, not an inability to sustain a single format, which is a common complaint. I was even more AMAZED by the CG work involved. I can't imagine the amount of time and effort it took to insert these creatures into each seen. I never once felt like I wasn't watching an organic living thing on screen. Avatar now has something to live up to. Each of these elements add up to an richly conceived alternate reality that provides an firm foundation for everything else presented in the film.

The bottom line is that this movie single handedly saves this summer for me. There has been far more disappointments (Wolverine, Terminator, Transformers, GI Joe etc...) than rewards (Star Trek, Drag Me to Hell), but this summer will now be remembered as the summer when District 9 showed what (Sci-fi) cinema is capable of.

Here's the Distric 9 panel discussion at Comic Con '09 with Blomkamp, Peter Jackson etc. (Jackson even talks about the Hobbit and HALO a little):

James Cameron's Avatar

No its not Shyamalan's 'The Last Airbender', but it's Science Fiction hero James Cameron's labour of love Avatar. I must have been living under a rock to have not heard more about this $200 million film. The movie's premise is being described as, "an emotional journey of redemption and revolution. It is the story of a wounded ex-marine, thrust unwillingly into an effort to settle and exploit an exotic planet rich in biodiversity, who eventually crosses over to lead the indigenous race in a battle for survival. The film's star is Sam Worthington who, ironically, was recently cast in the new Terminator: Salvation, the film series that Cameron is responsible for bringing to life.

Born out of an 80 page script that Cameron wrote back in the mid 90's, and it has been said that the films delayed release is due to the lack technology available to properly bring us into that world. Well, Avatar is set to be released this December using technology so advanced that Spielberg, Lucas and Peter Jackson have been involved in testing it. Cameron wanted to be able to create entirely CGI characters are photo realistic using motion capture. Wikipedia reports that: unlike previous performance capture systems, where the digital environment is added after the actors' motions have been captured, Cameron's new virtual camera allows him to directly observe on a monitor how the actors' virtual counterparts interact with the movie's digital world in real time and adjust and direct the scenes just as if shooting live action. This would also included the most advanced methods for capturing facial expressions ever used. If that wasn't enough the film will also be filmed in 3-D using proprietary equipment developed by Cameron.

Other interesting tidbits that only serve to ramp up this films skyrocketing expectations include an intricately conceived world that Stan Winston (who also worked on the Terminator films) will design and music by James Horner (Aliens, Titanic) that will include choral arrangements in which an entirely new alien language will be sung.

Reading this kind of news almost makes me forget how disappointing the new Terminator film was. Here's a video report on the film for more info.

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