District 9

Posted May 24, 2012 by Speed - 0 comments

Aliens have finally arrived on Earth but instead of the advanced human-like beings we’ve always expected them to be, they’re prawn-like creatures that are in dire need for help as it seems they’re entire leadership has died and they’re close to starvation. Humanity decides to help them but twenty years later the human population isn’t so happy with them anymore. The Prawns are settled in a military-occupied ghetto near Johannesburg, South Africa, called District 9 where crime is high and exploitation of the Prawn is common. The Multi-National United munitions corporation who is more concerned with managing to reproduce the aliens’ weapons technology than their actual welbeing decides to move them to another location and sends out operative Wikus van der Merwe to get the aliens to sign eviction notes so the relocation can be done without any problem.

However, while on the job, Wikus gets exposed to some strange fluid which rapidly starts to mutate him. MNU sees their chance to finally get access to the alien weapons as Wikus’ DNA is combining with that from the Prawn, but in order to fully exploit that, they’ll have to take every bit of DNA from him. And of course Wikus isn’t all too happy with that. He escapes to find that the only place he can go to is District 9 in the hopes that the Prawn can help him with his condition…

Sound and Vision:
The movie starts off in documentary style where you get to see some less-than-perfect images but as things progress, we move onto a real filmic experience and the intentional lesser quality becomes top notch stuff. The amount of detail is great, contrast and lighting are perfect, skin tones vary depending on the lighting and overall we can only say that this Blu-ray has stunning image quality.

The DTS-HD 5.1 track also shows off its abilities. During the first part where the documentary style rules we get excellent placing where the dialogues from Wikus and his men are coming from the front while the camera man clearly is put in the back. As the movies picks up pace, so does the soundtrack with much more use of special effects, surround speakers, and subwoofer. And that while all the time dialogue never gets overwhelmed by the action that’s going on. Excellent!

Extras:
- Audio Commentary
- Deleted Scenes
- The Alien Agenda: A Filmmaker’s Log
- Metamorphosis: The Transformation of Wikus
- Innovation: The Acting and Improvisation of ‘District 9′
- Concept and Design: Creating the World of ‘District 9′
- Alien Generation: The Visual Effects of ‘District 9′
- Joburg From Above: Satellite and Schematics of the World of ‘District 9′ – Interactive Map

A nice batch of extras that only heightens the need to get this Blu-ray release into your collection as soon as possible.

Conclusion:
District 9 is a special piece of work. It starts out with a documentary style movie that has interview fragments and on-the-scene handycam work that reminds of the shakycam footage from Cloverfield. After the initial footage where we get to meet the main protagonist, Wikus van der Merwe, the movie changes style and becomes a real sci-fi action feast with towards the ending even some Transformers-like battle. And all the time you as viewer are sitting there at the edge of your seat, wondering what’s going to blow you away next.

Beware though, there’s more than just plain action. The characters are well developed and even the Prawn – of which you can’t understand a word they’re saying – show emotions that people can bond with. No, District 9 is clearly more than just some action blockbuster with lots of stuff blowing up. There’s emotional attachment to the characters thanks to good acting from the entire cast (which actually doesn’t consist of million dollar actors) and a deep storyline that at the start may seem a bit awkward but grabs you by the balls once things really get going.

Peter Jackson was right to produce this movie by Neill Blomkamp as it’s a movie that hits all the right spots at the right time.

Excellent movie with excellent image and sound quality and plenty of extras. What more do you want?

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