District 9 (2009)

Exhilarating!!

I think this is the only word I can think of for describing this movie.

For those who have not yet seen District 9 this is a Science Fiction Action Adventure directed by Neill Blomkamp & produced by Peter Jackson.

As far as I know this was Neill's first project. Without any prior information on this movie, I think I decided to give this movie a shot when I saw that Peter Jackson was also involved. Any way I was not at all thwarted.

To tell the story in a nutshell, we are told that some time back in the '80s a massive alien ship appeared over Johannesburg, SA & it looked to be marooned as its command module got separated some how (which we are not told how...) & fell to earth. After sometime the people from earth formed a probing team who discovers a million unhealthy extraterrestrial species, which are later given refuge on earth. However in a matter of time the initial welcome gets washed out from human community as some of these aliens called as "Prawns" (As they resembled the exoskeleton of prawns) gets involved into unlawful activities. The asylum camp where these aliens were hooked up was called as "District 9". After some time a militarized Private Company called MNU (Multi National United) is given contract to evict the population to a new place. While the on going story we are introduced to the protagonist Wikus Van De Merwe who acts as the operative in charge for eviction. During the process he gets accidentally infected to one alien chemical component which leads to mutation. The story ultimately revolves around the MNU's exploitation on Wikus' newly infection in order to accelerate alien weapon system, which they had been working on for some time without much success. Side by side we are shown the dark side of the human & Wikus' flight to escape from this new nightmare.

Wikus character is intensely performed by Sharlto Copley; I think I will not be forgetting this very soon. Considering the budget to be less than 40 million I think the special effects and the Alien design was simply brilliant. After a long time we are provided with story which has a soul in a literal sense.

This movie is prepared in the way to give it a documentary look, but it never goes beyond overdo. Neill succeeds in steadily converting the light hearted nature of this movie to a fast paced dark action narrative, which is definitely praise worthy. I think every one should see this once to decide its merit.

My Rating : 8.5/10

The Dark Knight (2008)

The Dark Knight will be one of the first Super Hero based movie which was dark not only from its literal point of view but from every aspect compared to its peers like Spider Man, Iron Man etc.

Heath Ledger's performance as 'Joker' has immortalized one of the best screen play Villain in modern times. Unlike 1989's Batman, this will be the best comic book adaptation successfully put to screen and I doubt whether there will be any movie like this unless Christopher breaks his own record with an even more successful sequel.

I have always preferred Christian Bale as Batman rather than Val Kilmer, George Clooney. This time he displayed a much more mature role. If Batman Begins had created the groundwork for the upcoming sequel, then Dark Knight proved to be a superior and more thriving motion picture. It is a real tragedy to miss a prodigy like Heath.

Unlike Jack Nicolson 'Joker'which proved to be a funnier adversary of the Batman, Heath as 'Joker' was Devil's Incarnate, one who would kill with a smile on face and the most challenging nemesis ever to be put up in a Super Hero based movies. Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two Face was an excellent pick & he balanced his role delightfully.

Apart from the brilliant performance by supporting actors like Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhaal & Gary Oldman as Lt. Gordan, the movie provided us with some of the unforgettable musical score by typical talents James Newton Howard & Hans Zimmer.

My Rating : 10/10

The Hurt Locker (2008)

The Hurt Locker can be described as the most authentic portrayal of post Iraq War. 
For those who have not yet seen, the story centers the special unit in Army whose profession is to defuse roadside bombs in Iraq.
There had been way too many movies based on the Iraq premise, what makes this movie so remarkable is how well the narrative had been put to use.
We get to see the war torn country in an absolute different perspective, adding legitimate elements to make this a stunning success. 
Every effort had been taken to capture the details of the risk involved for disarming live bombs adding to it, the thrill factor. Kathryn Bigelow has successfully given us the true situation out there which we had always been yearning to see.

Apart from the style of infusing edgy moments and realistic action; strength of this movie also had been the cast, even though most of them had shared equal amount of time. Jeremy Renner had been faultless as the untamed "Sergeant William James". Anthony Mackie as "Sergeant Sanborn" had been likewise creditable. Emotion & frustration had been a long time mate of the men and women serving in Iraq and it had been properly justified by Brian Geraghty as "Specialist Eldridge".

Though we will not see senseless gun battles, whatever action had been exposed have been worldly & uncompromising.

Taken as a whole, if anyone is interested to understand the present state of Iraq The Hurt Locker should just be right to feel the heat. It does not carry any biased political message but a true depiction of life under constant threat.

It reminds me with the excerpt shown at the start of the movie.

"The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug" -- Chris Hedges

Very True...

My Rating : 9/10