District 9 is an ambitious, deeply flawed new science-fiction/allegory released in theatres to great acclaim last Friday. District 9 benefitted greatly from an excellent marketing campaign and some amazing pre-release buzz. Sadly, the movie cannot live up to the avalanche of hype. An intriguing but often muddled and overlong mess, District 9 is best in spurts. Towards the end, the movie becomes overlong overkill, the kind of which people associate with Michael Bay. Scenes go on too long and the socio-political allegory gets tossed out the window in favor of nonstop gore and ultraviolence. District 9 also rips off half a dozen superior movies along the way which include Robocop, Alien Nation, and most notably the Croenberg remake of The Fly. District 9 shifts tones more often than Patrick Bateman changes business cards.

Neil Blomkamp’s a talented young director and he shows great skill with District 9. Made for 30 million bucks, the movie is often stunning and quite original at times, but it is overwhelmed towards the end. There’s an evil right-wing corporation, aliens segregated in a ghetto and exploited, and a geek named Wikus (played by the excellent Sharlito Copley), whose life is ruined after coming in contact with the aliens, who are given the racist name “prawns” and hated by almost everyone in South Africa. The initial material is quite fascinating and then the movie shifts into horror mode and I quickly lost interest.

District 9 is a better premise than a movie. It has strong performances and effects, but scenes run on forever and the movie is at least 20 minutes too long. District 9 functions mostly as the arrival as a major new talent who hasn’t quite found his own voice and vision.

Movie Grade: B-

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