District 9 was not a film I had the chance to see in the theater. However, it had a really interesting premise, that of an alien spaceship hovering motionless over Johannesburg, South Africa of all places, for months and the inhabitants of the ship finally removed and placed into what can only be described as a ghetto, away from the human population and forced to submit to humiliating treatment and scientific experimentation. Knowing that it was produced by Peter Jackson, I was expecting a good film with excellent video and audio presentations. Were my expectations met? Read on!
Film
Without question, District 9 is sci-fi at its best. It is gritty, action packed and thought provoking. It is a piece that reflects on human society as a whole and how we treat people who we find to be different than us, often times with hostility, violence and even worse, death. District 9 has a very gritty look and feel, with that hand held camera documentary look which features post event interviews with principal characters and often herky jerky images, just as in the last two Bourne films. While I am sure that some will find this technique jarring, I like it as I find it adds to the you are there realism of the narrative.
The story is set in Johannesburg, South Africa. A huge alien spacecraft arrives on Earth and hovers motionless over Johannesburg for several months. When military forces finally attempt to enter the ship, they find aliens that are malnourished and ill. The aliens look like grasshoppers that walk upright. They are taken off the ship and placed into forced camps where they have to endure really awful living conditions, with little in the way of rights, food and shelter. After 20 years of these conditions, the inhabitants of Johannesburg are fed up with the aliens and want them moved. A new camp well away from the city is set up and a multinational governmental agency known as the MNU begins a relocation process.
The authorities move in to camp, known as District 9 to get each of the aliens to consent to the transfer to District 10. However, unbeknownst to the MNU, the leader of the alien ship is in the process of manufacturing fuel for the ship so he can return to their world and presumably bring others to the Earth to rescue his crew, over 1.8 million of them. However, this fuel is mistakenly ingested by Wikus, a human appointed by MNU to lead the expedition to the encampment who begins to morph into one of the aliens and as a result, is highly prized and pursued by the MNU. Will he survive the metamorphosis? Will the alien leader escape? You will have to watch the film to find out. You will be glad you did. This film is highly recommended.
Video
This is a great looking encode and a very stylized film. The film has a rather muted color palette, looking like it is a bit washed out, all to contribute to the look and feel of the narrative. Accordingly, the film doesn’t feature the deepest of blacks. However, the black levels are more than acceptable. Where this encode really shines is in the level of clarity and detail which are simply exceptional, contributing to a utterly three dimensional visual experience. You can literally see each shin pore on the actors’ faces and every facial blemish.
The entire film is razor sharp, regardless of whether the shot is tight or distant or whether the scene in an exterior or interior one. Shadow detail is extraordinary as well. While I am sure that there will be some who will argue that you can’t give a 5 star ratting to a film with such muted colors, this encode appears to this viewer to be totally faithful to the theatrical presentation and as such is fully worthy of a full 5 stars rating. The clarity and detail evident in this encode is among the finest I have yet to experience on Blu-ray.
Audio
As good as the video presentation is on this release, the audio is even better and is reference in all respects. Fidelity, bass response and dynamics are all off the charts. The dialogue track is beautifully recorded and perfectly placed in the mix. The surrounds are used early, often and aggressively, creating a totally immersive sound mix that places you right in the middle of the action. The sound mix is a perfect companion to the visuals. It is really hard to find one fault with this mix. It is without a doubt one of the best sounding films I have yet to experience on Blu-ray and is darn near perfect. It is now at the top of my list for audio demo material. It is that good.
Special Features
This release is jam packed with extras. It is BD-Live enabled and comes with a digital copy compatible with Macs and PCs. The extras include a commentary with director/co-writer Neill Blomkamp as well as the usual set of deleted scenes.
It also features a rather lengthy three part behind scenes documentary entitled “The Alien Agenda: A Filmmaker’s Blog” which takes you through the preproduction process and the creation of the world that makes up District 9, the role of Peter Jackson in the production of the film, the choice of South Africa as the setting of the film, the use of small hand held cameras to shoot the film, the difficulties of shooting in Johannesburg, the challenges in shooting scenes to which effects would later be added and the designing of the films’ sound effects.This documentary takes you though the entire production process, from soup to nuts and is very intriguing and well worth a look.
This release also includes 4 featurettes. “Metamorphosis: The Transformation of Wikus” which details the effects and makeup used to morph the Wikus character into a alien, “Innovation: The Acting and Improvisation of District 9 who shows director Blomkamp’s direction, “Conception and Design: Creating the World of District 9″ which depicts the design of the film;s visuals and “Alien Generation: The Visual Effects of District 9: which offers an in depth look at the process of shooting the film and the incorporation of CGI effects into the final film.
Also included and exclusive to the Blu-ray release is an interactive map “Joburg from Above: Satellite and Schematics of the World of District 9 and a playable “God of War III” game demo for the PS3 with an exclusive unlockable making of the game featurette. The release also includes cinechat and movieIQ which enables the viewer to access extra materials during the running of the film.
Final Thoughts
District is an action packed thought provoking and compelling film that features sensational video and audio presentations that are of reference quality. Highly recommended.
After revisiting this film on Blu-ray, it stands as simply one of the best of 2009! I agree with all of your scores here!