District 9 - Mo Review

In the midst of all of the summer blockbusters comes a most unexpected piece of cinema - District 9.
District 9 is this year's Blood Diamond. Seriously. It is. I shit you not. They billed this joint as an action/sci-fi flick but it has some of the deepest social commentary of any major film released so far this year.

The story is told following a character named Wikus who gets the job of what is basically head of the "alien civil affairs" project that is overseeing a huge migration of aliens that came to Earth 20 years ago and reside just outside of the city of Johannesburg in an area called District 9. The aliens are malnourished and many are somewhat unruly and in need of medical care. They are set up in CAMPS. Any of this sound familiar? The company responsible for the project (called the MNU) also happens to be the biggest arms dealer in the world and are interested in alien weapon technology. The aliens interact with humans and tend to barter with Nigerian rebels. Starting to sound more familiar?

So, Wikus is responsible for getting them to sign forms that allow them to legally be migrated. Aliens? Sign forms? You know that's some bullshit, right? With the help of an army, he goes in and tries to get them to agree to move in 24 hours. Of course, not all of the aliens are happy with the idea of migration. (No shit). During the course of his journey, we see what is a mirror of what has happened with the refugee camps in Johannesburg. What I thought was going to be a an action packed Independence Day 2 kind of joint actually turned out to be more like Blood Diamonds. I can't say I'm the least bit disappointed. It draws attention to a bigger issue and also calls for the examination of the human condition and how it deals with the almost hand-in-hand existence of poverty and cruelty.
There is a lot of action in this film. There is also a deeper social commentary that absolutely has to be examined when discussing it. Since G.I. Joe had enough action for two movies, I'm glad that this movie took the direction it did.

Because I'm not a spoiler type, I can't go into more detail about what Wikus goes through without giving away important plot points. He befriends an alien and his son and the rest of the movie is about their journey. In all honesty, if you are one of those types who is into more sophisticated movies but has a secret penchant for death and destruction that needs filling from time-to-time, this movie is the stone to kill your two birds with.
I can't not recommend this movie. Its good. I can say that if you are expecting the same type of flick as G.I. Joe and Transformers, you've got another thing coming. I think the biggest letdown for many people will probably be that this movie isn't mindless enough. The trailers are purposely deceptive in order to get heads into the theaters. I can also say that you have to suspend belief going in as there are things that don't add up unless you allow for creative license. You can't enjoy a movie if you bring too many "whys" in with you. That being said, I say go see it. I may even fuck with it again after it hits the theaters. Its big budget, so big screen is the best outlet for it.
The CGI is damn good.
The story is damn good.
The movie is good overall. Just don't go in with the ID2 expectations and you won't be disappointed.

Peace.

A Perfect Getaway

Well, well, well. So this is what you get when you put Hitman, Quintin from Bandidas and Alice from the Resident Evil movies together? Hmmm. Not bad. Not bad at all. Despite a done to death whos-the-killer style semi-action thriller premise, the actors turned what should have been a run-of-the-mill movie with straight to DVD potential into an interesting flick.

Set in Hawaii, the idea basically plays out like this: there's a killer couple who is lurking about after just committing murder on one of the islands. You (the audience) are presented with three sets of couples and you have to figure out who is the killer couple. Unfortunately for me, I figured it out about six minutes in. Despite that, the actors make it a very interesting story. Steve Zahn plays his usual somewhat awkward and quirky character. Milla is his newlywed wife who is caught up in the idea of enjoying the trip through the lovely landscape of Hawaii. On the way, they hastily offer this couple a ride - an ex-con and a hippie chick - and then rescind it and then re-offer after they have pissed off the ex-con. Yeah, they's funny-stylin' on 'em. A little further in the journey, they meet a slightly crazy ex-special ops cat (Timothy Olyphant) and his girlfriend and from there its all about trying to figure out what's up.

The acting in this movie is pretty good. You get a full sense of the characters and the story is pretty well developed. To top it off, normally, these types of movies happen in a house in the middle of nowhere but having it happen in a tropical paradise adds a unique sense of reality to the movie.

Normally, I would say this shit is going straight to DVD but I actually enjoyed the movie. The acting is on point. Even though I figured it out early on, I still had fun watching. Its paced very well and has sparse moments of humor that really make the characters interesting. Now I probably wouldn't drop $10-11 a head to see this joint at night but this would make a good matinee and a damn good rental. I already know this joint is gonna get slept on. It shouldn't, but it will. If you like mysteries with a light feel to them, this is your flick. I almost didn't fuck with it but I'm glad I did. Unfortunately, there's not much flesh in this film from the women folk, so its kinda safe but there are some pretty ugly flesh wounds so the gore factor is not exactly at the bottom end.
All in all, its a good joint to fuck with if you are looking for a flick this weekend.