Movie Review Monday!

This week's movie review is for... 

District 9

This movie was actually pretty good. I had to watch it twice to really learn to enjoy it. The first time around, I felt that it was lacking, but once I understood a little more about it after watching it the first time, the second time around, the movie was actually pretty enjoyable. This movie, for some, is seen as just a weird alien movie/mockumentary, but for me, it was definitely a political statement directed at the various governments who force groups of people into ghettos, thus forcing them into lives filled with violence and poverty... And this wasn't just the aliens that were used in this political statement, either; the Nigerian people were used for this statement, too. I will refuse, throughout this review, to use the movie term "prawn" for the aliens' name; it, to me, was used throughout the movie like a derogatory racial slur. If you've seen the movie, you'll understand.

Now... On to the review!


Visual:  10 -The effects used in this movie were pretty amazing. I didn't once feel like I was watching something "unreal" when it came to the aliens, the weaponry, or other various effects. Definitely an excellent use of computer generated imagery!
Acting:  10 - Excellent! It didn't seem like any of the acting was forced, either on the human actors or the CGI alien characters. You could feel the panic, the confusion. It was spot-on. There isn't much more to say about this other than everything was pretty much believable.
Story/Backstory:  10 - They actually told you what the hell was going on! This is awesome! I hate having to look stuff up, and this movie gave you the information right from the beginning. You know what happened to start the whole mess, and you get perfect closure at the end. Spot-on! Also, the transition between "movie" and "documentary" is a bit confusing at first, because you aren't sure which it is. The second time around, however, it's far more clear that it is more a documentary from Vickus's point-of-view and a "movie" from Christopher's.
Soundtrack: 8 - The only reason this doesn't get much of a rating is because, throughout the movie, you don't really hear all that much of a score. You're paying more attention to the actual movie and the feelings that the actors and situations give you more than you depend on the music to set the mood. Listening to some of the score, however, while actually listening for it, gives it a pretty decent rating; it's alright, but isn't really needed.
Character/Character Devlopment:  10 - There's decent character development in this. You learn to understand everyone's motives and they learn from experience, and you learn from their experiences. You notice that some characters even change their way of thought because of situations and experiences.
Overall: 9.6 - This is a great flick and political statement. It's not too long and doesn't drag on too much, and there are some pretty decent "Oh shit" moments. If you like alien movies and political satire/statement movies, then this is a good choice for you! There's plenty of characters to love and plenty of characters to hate; you feel for some of them and you despise others. I would definitely recommend this movie!
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Do you have a movie you want me to see? Leave a snide remark comment and let me know! :D