DVDfever.co.uk - District 9 Blu-ray reviewDVDfever.co.uk - Charts, News and Reviews of Blu-rays, DVDs, Games, CDs, Hardware, Laserdiscs, Cinema Films & more
Extras:
Joburg from above: Satellites and schematics of the World of District 9 - Interactive Map,
Deleted Scenes, The Alien Agenda: A Filmmaker's Log, Metamorphosis, Innovation: The acting and improvisation of District 9,
Conception and Design: Creating the world of District 9, Alien Generation: The Visual Effects of District 9, Trailer,
Audio commentary, Audio descriptive track, BD Live, Cinechat, Movie IQ
(Adicolor Yellow, Alive in Joburg, Crossing the Line, Tempbot)
Producers:
Carolynne Cunningham and Peter Jackson
Screenplay:
Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
Music:
Clinton Shorter
Cast :
Wikus Van De Merwe: Sharlto Copley
Christopher Johnson: Grey Bradnam - UKNR Chief Correspondent: Jason Cope
Fundiswa Mhlanga: Mandla Gaduka
Tania Van De Merwe: Vanessa Haywood
Thomas: Kenneth Nkosi
Koobus Venter: David James
Nicolas Van De Merwe: Johan van Schoor
Sandra Van De Merwe: Marian Hooman
As District 9 begins,
we learn that the aliens first arrived in 1982, in what is basically an opening documentary-style piece.
A large alien ship appears over Johannesbourg, rather than a major city, hovered there for 3 months at which point the
officials then decided to try and cut their way in. To their surprise, they found hoardes of malnourished aliens, around
a million of them in fact, and once settled on the ground it soon turned into a slum, much like those in Mumbai. The
ship ended up inoperable and unable to move.
Eventually, the aliens' presence led to riots breaking out, especially since over time bits and pieces had been breaking
off from the ship and dropping onto the town below, and as the aliens are looting and causing destruction, as well as
murdering people, this resulted in everyone just wanting them all to bugger off home. A company, MNU (Multi-National United)
was set up to keep all the aliens, referred to in a derogatory fashion as prawns, in check.
The plan is, after 20 years, to get rid and ship them off to a patch of land 200km away where they can keep themselves to
themselves and stop bothering everyone. It's not an easy task to evict and relocate almost 2 million aliens, as they
have multiplied in numbers since first arriving, and Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is the lackey we see
tasked with taking command of the operation, along with cameraman Trent (who we don't see, for obvious reasons),
Fundwisa (Mandla Gaduka), his assistant and Thomas (Kenneth Nkosi), an armed soldier to keep them safe.
On the flip side, the main aliens we see are Christopher Johnson (Jason Cope) and his son, Little CJ, who have
amassed 20 years of technology and they've mastered something for which we're yet to discover.
Overall, District 9 is slow at first as we follow the documentary, and later on once his documentary recording
is done - which, at almost 30 mins, which is twice as long as it needs to be - it tells a far more engaging tale.
I can't say what follows at this point, without giving too much away, but from that moment on it's a must-see.
The film also feels like trying to humanise the aliens from the Half Life series and the CGI blends in perfectly
with the actors to the point where you don't notice that you're watching CGI aliens, which is just the right way to do
it, since I'm completely sick of the never-ending supply of kids CGI movies.
The film is presented in its original 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio and is highly-detailed with no problems.
For the record, I'm watching on a Panasonic 37" Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
The sound is in DTS-HD MA 5.1, although I only had access to it in DTS 5.1, and is similarly fine. While it's not
an out-and-out loud blockbuster, there's enough going in it to justify a good score. I don't want to ssay any more than
that for fear of giving spoilers.
The extras are as follows (the titles may contains spoilers), and when you press the menu button on your remote, there's
a simple option to bring up the list of extras so you can quickly go to the next one:
Joburg from above: Satellites and schematics of the World of District 9 - Interactive Map:
Explore the environment, technology and aliens of District 9 using the arrow keys and enter button on the remote, it
says. Well, you can select from District 9, MNU Headquarters and the Alien mothership but while there's some info here,
there's not a massive amount. If you're a massive fan of the film it'll keep you interested for 10-15 minutes but it's
not really something you'll return to.
Deleted Scenes (23:38):
A massive 20 here. They're quite interesting additions but nothing that cries out to be included back in the main feature.
However, occasionally the disc just freezes at the end of some of them and I have to manually move them on to the next
one. Similarly, you have to do this when it does move onto the next one and there's no sound. Something's really up
with this disc in this section alone.
The Alien Agenda: A Filmmaker's Log (34:19):
Split into three parts, this gives plenty of background info with chat from the key cast and crew, and how the film
spawned from the short film, "Alive in Joburg" and the failure to bring a
Halo movie to the screen.
Oddly, that short film is not on this disc.
Metamorphosis: The transformation of Wikus (9:52):
Sharlto Copley in the make-up chair getting strange things done to him. It's fascinating to watch.
Innovation: The acting and improvisation of District 9 (12:05):
As the title suggests, a lot of the dialogue was improvised along the way.
Conception and Design: Creating the world of District 9 (13:18):
There's an immense amount of real-world set design in this film since, as I stated earlier, it works so well that you
start to forget that you're watching CGI mixed in.
Alien Generation: The Visual Effects of District 9 (10:18):
Showing how actors play the key alien figures with 'tennis balls' on their outfits so they can be captured and painted
out and the CGI aliens put in.
Trailer:
For this film? Erm... strangely not. It's for Michael Jackson's This Is It (2:31). I have no interest in seeing
this film but it does seem a tad ghoulish given how it was all over before it began.
Audio commentary:
with director/co-writer Neil Blomkamp
BD Live:
Connect your Blu-ray player to the internet and it sounds like you'll be able to get info the IMDB page for this film.
I've never got my player to go online properly before, so I'll just visit IMDB anyway.
Cinechat:
Chat with friends on BD Live while watching the film, as long as they're on BD Live too. Sounds a remarkably complex
and pointless thing to do. Does anyone ever use this?
Play the film with Movie IQ:
Another BD Live feature. This is online info for people who don't have a computer in the same room while watching
the film and a desperate need to answer a query right there and then.
The menu is mocked up a bit like the command centre at MNU, mixing in bits of the film with music.
There are English subtitles plus French and Hindi.
However, the chaptering is the usual 16 from Columbia which is simply not enough for a film that runs to almost 2 hours.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Blu-ray: 
As District 9 begins,
we learn that the aliens first arrived in 1982, in what is basically an opening documentary-style piece.
The film is presented in its original 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio and is highly-detailed with no problems.
For the record, I'm watching on a Panasonic 37" Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
