10 Disappointing Things We Learned About Movies In 2013
8. Neill Blomkamp Fails When He Inches Out Of His Comfort Zone
District 9 perfectly melded emotional drama and gritty action in a manner that seemed to be in the past of cinema. What makes this really remarkable is that the film, which nabbed a surprising Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards, is a consolation prize. Neill Blomkamp was originally set to bring the Halo movie to life, with Peter Jackson gifting the budget for the apartheid allegory to the seemingly talented director once the project was scrapped. Subsequently everyone waited excitedly for Elysium to hit. With more social commentary and the opportunity for some creative sci-fi designs it seemed set to be an essential 2013 film. Instead it was an identikit thriller. With shaky cam interspersed with slow mo action, a boring crutch of childhood based destiny and a message incredibly overt yet completely unexplored it was one of the year's major disappointments. And not just on a surface level; it shows that Blomkamp may not be as visionary as we originally praised. The social element of District 9 was very close to the South Africans awareness and thus came with real understanding, while Elysiums class divide is a general issue and is kept at arms length. On the design front, everything was so heavily reliant on Halo; District 9 had a couple of FPS inspired shots, but everything here was straight out of Master Chiefs adventures. Once Blomkamp left the safety of his interests he had nothing new to give us.
