John’s Movie Musings

Back in 2001, Microsoft released Halo for their brand new Xbox.  The game was an enormous hit and the sequel, Halo 2, pulled in millions, rivaling box office numbers (unheard of for a video game).  In the months prior to Halo 3‘s release on the Xbox 360, Microsoft wanted to go all out in the marketing campaign, so they hired indie director Neill Blomkamp to make a live action Halo short.  The film was released for download and got quite a bit of attention because it was far better than it should have been. (Watch it here)

Around this time, the Halo franchise was making waves in Hollywood.  The studios smelled money and got Peter Jackson on board to make a Halo summer blockbuster.  Jackson checked out Neill Blomkamp’s little marketing movie and hired him as director.

Unfortunately, this happy story has an unhappy ending.  Hollywood got greedy and everyone wanted the largest piece of Halo pie.  Fingers were pointed, mothers were insulted, and eventually the entire project died.

Tired of all things Hollywood, Jackson and Blomkamp were determined to do a project together.  Literally, the day after the death of the Halo movie, District 9 was born with a smaller budget, a more focused original story, and a streamlined production schedule.  The movie is so good I imagine Jackson and Blomkamp do drive-by studio moonings.  They’ve certainly earned them.

District 9 is one of those movies where you don’t want to read any reviews prior to going in.  It’s gotten a lot of positive press and probably will get even more in the coming weeks, but avoid the plot spoilers as much as you can.  If you only know there are aliens and you hate Sci-Fi movies, let me say that this isn’t your standard alien flick.  It uses the imaginary to speak of the human condition.  I’ve heard from several people who have been affected by the story.  At a minimum, it’ll leave you thinking.

Easily my best of the year…so far.

Grade: A+