District 9

I love sci-fi movies. I am one of the only people I know who liked A.I., the Steven Spielberg/Stanley Kubrick clunker. So I wanted to see District 9 as soon as I saw the previews, and was excited when it got pretty good reviews and popularity the first week after release. But I must say I was rather disappointed after seeing it yesterday.

Overall, District 9 is not a horrible film. Peter Jackson uses an interesting technique where he tells the story almost as a documentary. This throws you off at first when the movie starts, but once you get used to the style it feels natural. I also think he used this technique in a desperate attempt to smooth over a lot of glaring plot holes (see below). There are no "named" actors in the movie, which is both good and bad. Even the lead actor is a no-name (Sharlto Copley), but he plays the lead role of the bumbling son-in-law of the evil corporate CEO surprisingly well, and is probably the best part of the movie.

My biggest issue with the movie, without giving too much away, is the huge plot holes. For instance, the aliens are far more advanced than humans and are capable of creating superior weapons out of junk. In fact, this is the central theme of the movie: power-hungry humans are trying to get these awesome alien weapons. But the ponderous part is that these more advanced aliens are either too stupid or too lethargic to use any of their own weapons to break out of their "concentration camp." To buy into the central plot, you have to believe that the aliens are not capable of an idea a 3-year old human would conceive; yet you also must believe that they can swiftly create a powerful alien bomb in 2 seconds by throwing together a few junked parts. Hard to swallow.

My other issue with the movie is the one-dimensional human characters (except for the lead character). For instance, the evil CEO is so bent on obtaining the alien technology that he would lie to his daughter and kill anyone. 95% of the humans in the film are depicted as being mono-maniacal in that all they care about is alien weapons. I guess that is supposed to drive home the take-home point of the movie that human nature can often be the worse thing in the universe. But it seems like this could have been shown a little more sophisticated. I mean human nature isn't that one-dimensional.

Overall, I would rate it on par with I, Robot. Another sci-fi movie that I liked for the sci-fi aspects, but that's about it. See it if you're a science-fiction fan, wait for video if you're not.