{"id":7360,"date":"2009-12-31T16:59:20","date_gmt":"2009-12-31T16:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=7360"},"modified":"2009-12-31T17:06:37","modified_gmt":"2009-12-31T17:06:37","slug":"uk-dvd-blu-ray-district-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2009\/12\/31\/uk-dvd-blu-ray-district-9\/","title":{"rendered":"UK DVD & Blu-ray: District 9"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>District 9<\/a><\/strong> is a sci-fi drama about aliens stranded in South Africa which became one of the surprise hits of the year with its clever mix of action, politics and dazzling SFX.<\/p>\n

After being recruited to do the aborted Halo movie<\/a> by\u00a0Peter Jackson<\/a>, director Neill Blomkamp<\/a> revived a short film of his which was a science-fiction thriller where stranded alien refugees are exiled to a slum in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

The story explores what happens to a South African bureaucrat (Sharlto Copley<\/a>) assigned to relocate the creatures, derogatorily referred to as “prawns”, after he is infected with a strange liquid.<\/p>\n

A combination of many alien films and TV shows from Alien Nation<\/a>, V<\/a> and even Independence Day<\/a>, it mixes political allegory with a more conventional thriller narrative.<\/p>\n

Copley gives a strong performance in the central role and the visual realisation of the aliens is stunning with the designs coming from WETA Workshop<\/a> and effects by Image Engine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Funded by QED<\/a>, it was picked up by Sony who did a shrewd marketing campaign and achieved one of the summers genuine breakthrough hits, without any recognisable stars, a first time director and working from little known source material.<\/p>\n

In a year of overblown and tedious sci-fi\/action fare such as Transformers 2 and GI: Joe, this was a breath of fresh air.<\/p>\n

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The extras on the DVD and Blu-ray are as follows:<\/p>\n

DVD<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n