District 9

Quite possibly a contender for sci-fi film of the decade, District 9 is sci-fi with a conscience and a heart.

The bureaucrat talks into the camera, explaining an alien gang sign, while a curious alien loiters in the background, looking slightly nervous, and still kind of curious. It's hard to tell which one of the figures is less at ease - the chitinous visitor from another world, or the white-shirted functionary wearing an ill-fitting bullet-proof vest. And it's just one of many wonderfully constructed scenes showcasing the divide - or lack thereof - between what we call human and what we fear for its otherness.

District 9 is that kind of film, the kind that makes you want to wax lyrical about the Kafka-esque overtones, or rave about the subtle and understated performances from a cast of largely unknown, untrained actors. But don't let my intellectualising fool you. As subtle and even lyrical as some of District 9's storytelling is, it still has a lot of balls to the wall action to deliver, some freaky-cool aliens, and some awesome technical production design.

It really is just about as perfect a piece of thoughtful science fiction cinema that I've seen since 2001, or Soderberg's remake of Solaris.

It opens simply, in a faux documentary style complete with interviews after the fact. It's intimated early on that District 9's central character, Wikus Van De Merwe, has been responsible for something big, but we don't learn exactly what, only that it's almost beyond the comprehension of those left behind, like his wife and co-workers. Then we flash forward to Wikus himself, before it all goes bad.

As lead characters go, he's pretty much the ultimate dweeb. Think someone like Ricky Gervais' character from The Office and you're not far wrong, and it's an interesting choice for someone we're meant to follow through an at times complex plot. But what it does is lend the film an incredible air of truthiness (to borrow from Colbert), and make the character's remarkable journey all the more impactful.

Even more impressive is the fact that Sharlto Copley hasn't really acted before, apart from a small role in Neill Blomkamp's short film Alive in Joburg (which was the inspiration for D9). Sharlto's presence is amazing, at once entirely natural and perfectly intense. In fact, pretty much every performance is note-perfect, especially some of the talking head documentarians that provide the backstory for the shadowy District 9 itself. Blomkamp has extracted some very nuanced performances, largely through trusting his actors to develop and improvise their characters as they filmed.

Similarly, the choice to keep the film set in Johannesburg, rather than locating it in, say, the usual spot for Alien encounters, the USA, means that D9's tale of segregation, fear of the other and corporate greed has an overwhelming sense of belonging. And it didn't hurt that the crew could shoot the film in real slums and shanty towns. Some audiences may find the South African accents impenetrable, but it really does work to make the film ultimately believable.

But, as good as D9 is - and it is very good - one can't help but come away from the film a little sad, feeling that Blomkamp and producer Peter Jackson lost the chance at something possible even greater. Looking at D9's slick action sequences, remarkable set and effects design, you can't help but get the feeling that if the pair had been able to make Halo, it would have been something truly remarkable.

And yet we should be happy that Jackson felt he had such a talent on his hands he could give him $30 million to make something else - and something remarkable at that.