Upon seeing the trailer for District 9, I have to admit I was pretty jazzed. However, when I finally saw the film, I was sort of disappointed that the aliens were basically in the film throughout, because I feel the less we would have seen of them the better. But, that is just me.Anyway, the film is basically shot as a documentary with parts shown during and after the events that are taking place (if that makes sense). Aliens have been living in South Africa for a handful of years now and the humans have decided to remove the aliens and transfer into a camp - which almost looks like a concentration camp.
Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is place in charge of removing the aliens and transferring them to the new camp and remove all of the alien weapons that they have stored in their huts. Along the way he comes across a hut with no weapons, but finds a tube with some black liquid in it that explodes onto his body.
Van De Merwe finds the father and son alien that had been collecting the liquid and discovers that they have a fully functional shop beneath their hut. So it is up to him if he is to allow them to leave the planet and return home or capture them and send them back to the new camp.
Honestly, as things started I was coming in not expecting to see the aliens, so to see them right away really disappointed me. I was really excited about the documentary style shooting that was going on, but once some of the things started happening with Van De Merwe that style didn't really make sense to me anymore.
Was it a horrible film? No. But it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. The message being portrayed in the film is great though. Plus, I really enjoyed Copley in The A-Team and was hoping for a bit more from him here. He did well, but not what I got from him as Murdoch.
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I think we all might have shit ourselves perhaps a bit too much upon D9's release, but when you consider its origins, budget and making outside of the Hollywood system, and then look at where it got, it's pretty amazing. A cast of unknowns, an unknown director, terrific effects, and it felt so fresh. Don't get me wrong, I still dig the hell out of it, but I can kinda see why the hype might have been overbearing for you.
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