District 9 is an amazing achievement. It’s a movie that shouldn’t work. At All. It’s a sci-fi film made on a budget of $30 million (by comparison, Transformers 2 was made for $200 million, $150 million for Star Trek, $175 million for G.I. Joe and well, Avatar cost between $300 and $500 million depending on who you ask). Written and directed by essentially a rookie, Neil Blomkamp, the film has no bankable stars. The biggest name associated with the film is Producer Peter Jackson. It starts out with a documentary style and slowly become a sort of action buddy drama and then into something that I think can only be described as heartbreaking, a transition that would make Hitchcock proud. The whole movie is an analogy for apartheid, a subject most people would rather not discuss. Oh, and half the film’s dialogue is subtitled. Nothing about that screams Box Office Success. It grossed over $200 million world wide and over $100 million of that came from the U.S. alone.
It’s certainly not the year’s biggest success story (I think that honor would go to both Avatar and Paranormal Activity), but I don’t think anyone thought that it would do the business that it did, and certainly no one thought it would garner a Best Picture nomination from the Academy. So, I guess the question is, how?
Easy, marketing.
The movie was dumped on essentially the last week of the Summer movie season, opening wide the week after G.I. Joe, not usually a sign of good faith. But, because of an excellent marketing campaign and very positive word of mouth coming out of San Diego Comi Con and various film festivals, it became a sensation. Now it’s up for a handful of Oscars, and deservedly so.
I truly believe the less you know about this film, the better, and, yes it made a ton of money, but there are plenty of people out there who haven’t seen the movie, and watching it is an experience I want no part of ruining. It’s amazing, and I wish I’d gone into a theatre to see it, but unlike Avatar, I don’t think it’s something that loses anything on the small screen. It’s not my favorite of the year, but it fell at the top of many lists, and I’d say it would easily make my top ten, maybe top five. Easily one of the best science fiction films ever crafted.
The special effects still baffle me after a few viewings. I’ve no idea how they managed to flawlessly infuse a very real world setting with such alien elements (forgive the pun) and it never jars you out of the film. Everything in this movie feels genuine. I love the spectacle of of embarassingly huge budget sci-fi flicks. I like being WOWed, but my favorie sci-fi comes from movies like this. It belongs in the pantheon alongside Serenity and Starship Troopers. Epic sci-fi films that somehow manage to stay small and intimate, to be about something more than the spectacle.
With all the awards the film has garnered (and there are many), there is one major oversight. Sharlto Copely has been continuoisly overlooked. That he hasn’t been nominated in any of District 9’s appearences on various award ballots is a true shame. His turn as Wickus is hands down one of the best lead performances of the year, and to do something so amazing your first time out of the gate and have it go unrewarded is tragic.
