Official Blog For Author Thomas McClurg

Howdy, it’s been to long since i posted, short story or otherwise. Life has been crazy and my hiatus ran longer.  Once i shifted my time away from my blog there was something ready to devour it so carving it back into my schedule has proved difficult, but I’m determined to make it work and get back to at least a weekly posting of something. I’m also looking forward to getting back into writing Cerberus Bay, but for today i thought I’d do a movie review.

Sci-fi/fantasy is my fave in any genre of entertainment so when i started reading about district 9 a while back and saw trailers and what not i got excited. Original movies in Hollywood are a dying breed it seems. Everything is either a sequel or a remake or is based on something or inspired by something else be it a short story or a comic book or a line of toys. So seeing what looked to be a unique movie that also happened to be in my favorite genre got me stoked to take a trip to the theatre. As always with my movie reviews, there will be spoilers so if you don’t want any of that info please don’t read any further.

The first thing that struck me is the realistic feel that is given to everything. As opposed to a move like gi-joe where your left to wonder if the actors could even have a conversation without the aide of special effects, D9 puts you in a world where aliens living in a South African ghetto is common place news. Everyone takes it in stride and the beginning has a very documentary type feel about it, which immediately makes you comfortable with the idea of these aliens existing on earth even though we never really learn much about them. Where they came from, what happened to their ship, social structure, etc… things you might think would be crucial to an interesting sci-fi story are glossed over in favor of more personal stakes like prejudice, freedom, bigotry, and corruption. As the viewer you are pulled quickly, with scarcely time to ask a question. Right from the get go it’s aliens in south Africa causing local tension. okay i’m with you lets get going, and you never look back.

The story itself isn’t complex but it is emotionally impactful and while looking at such issues as prejudice, cruelty, and bigotry so directly might come across as preachy and heavy handed in a movie based in reality, the beauty of science fiction is that you can broach such touchy topics in very direct ways and have the audience take it in stride. I was sold from the beginning right on through to the end, and while there were moments when i dreaded them doing irreparable damage to the story, each time a potentially fatal crossroad came, the story takes you in the right direction which makes for a satisfied audience.

The dialogue was, for me, the weakest part of the movie. Back and forth conversations are sparse and much of the time the main character is running around yelling things which are virtually always filled with “f bombs” now considering what is going on i can see how he might do that, but nevertheless, it leaves the dialogue feeling very raw, blunt, and frantic. Effective for what is going on i suppose, but it made it difficult for me to relax and digest.

As far as the acting is concerned, you will immediately notice that none of the characters are big names, or even remotely recognizable names. This adds to the sense of realism that tends to get distorted in movies where actors who are larger than life fill theatres with the aura of their otherworldly presence on screen. That being said, the cast did a fine job. I detected no weak performances, and never found any particular moment to be any less compelling than any other moment. They were consistently good, and their performances take place without being distracting from the story.

Which is of course centered around aliens in the so called District 9. This for me was really the make or break piece of the movie. Are the aliens cheesy, do the cg effects stick out like a sore thumb, or do they fit seamlessly into the movie. As a writer, things which distract the reader from the story are universally bad. I’ve found that in movies the best kind of special effects are the ones you look at and think to yourself, “They don’t even look like special effects.” in this regard, D9 passes with flying colors. The alien ghetto was completely believable and for me became a character in itself. The aliens themselves look cool and imaginative as well as real and when humans and aliens are on screen at the same time you would swear they were right next to each other having a conversation.

When it comes time to classify the movie, the line gets blurry. is it an action movie? a drama? a thriller? a political and social statement? I think it’s a mixture of all, it defies cookie cutter labels. i would call it a thrilling sci-fi drama with moments of intense action mixed with a poignant emotional message.

As far as the action part of that is concerned, you are exposed to some pretty serious violence. Not torture violence or really even gratuitous gore, but violence as you might expect from someone being blown up by an alien electric assault rifle. Again the word i would use is realism, so in that sense you deal with some pretty graphic stuff, but it never feels overblown or ostentatious. Still the movie is definitely hard R, which is why i was shocked to see parents bringing their young children along. this is not a kids movie, this is a very well done but very adult science fiction story and if you can deal with the content and have been waiting for a good sci-fi flick to come along, this is it.