District 9: Film Review

At last, a Hollywood sci-fi film that proves that a huge budget isn't necessary for good story telling.

District 9 is a debut film from Neill Blomkamp that deals with the results of an unexpected first contact with alien life forms. The film instantly plays off the standard science fiction choice between "friendly, helpful alien life" and "aggressive, warmongering alien life". These aliens arrive and offer no contact whatsoever. The story continues by detailing the relationship between alien and humanity along with internal human concerns. This is balanced by the personal trials of Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) who is caught amongst these struggles.

As mentioned in a previous post, much of science fiction seems to suffer from the problem of relying on science fiction details in lieu of competent story telling. It is very easy to distract a reader or film viewer with flashy imagery or pseudo scientific jargon. But this rarely works and the underlying plot, characterisation or language problems always remain. District 9 seems to have gotten the balance just right by engaging the audience with appealing characters and a strong plot through the medium of forward and unique science fiction.

I found the acting to be excellent, the style of cinematography highly appealing and the overall production sublime. But the most impressive element of this film relates back to the method of story telling. Refreshingly, Bloomkamp has joined the group of science fiction story tellers that do not feel the need to over-simplify or explain a situation. Plenty of questions are left unanswered by this film and not only is that perfectly ok, it's a great benefit to the film. Why spend huge swathes of time explaining a situation that does not need explanation?

Good writers allow the audience or readers to use their imagination to enhance the story and District 9 is a very good example of this pattern.

-The English Student

Horizons: Book Review

Mary Rosenblum's Horizons epitomises some of the best aspects of science fiction, but also some of the worst failings of the genre.

The best writing in this area combines idealistic and original fiction about our future with real life human issues. As a fellow student once remarked, good sci-fi is appealing due to the fact that it does not need a science fiction setting. The only way we can truly appreciate any novel is if it appeals to something that is intrinsic to our existence.

So the question is, does Horizons adhere to this high standard of science fiction? The first half of this novel had me believing that this was a masterpiece unfolding before me and I would certainly have said yes to that question. There is an excellent combination of politics, genetics, psychology, sociology and even philosophy played out through the likeable main characters. The personal relationships that develop are also well paced and believable.

However, it seems that Rosenblum was simply unable to reconcile these vast issues within this novel. The author intends to deal with a plethora of human issues, but in doing so fails to deal with any of them sufficiently. The lack of foreshadowing for some of the final issues contributes to this confusion and destroys the excellent pacing of the earlier chapters. If her focus had not been too diffuse, if she had not relied on pointless "deus ex machina" and if she had expanded the novel to a more appropriate length, Rosenblum could have written a classic.

These are big "if"s however and they do not distract from the fact that this is a disappointing novel.

-The English Student