Head-to-Head: Avatar vs District 9

Both sci-fi films that were nominated for Best Picture in 2009, and both incorporating social commentary about migration, settlements, colonization etc with high-concept aliens and technology. 

Who wins? 

Direction

James Cameron for Avatar vs Neill Blomkamp for District 9 

I'm generally a James Cameron apologist, but in this instance he doesn't even come close. Cameron's always been a heavy-handed director; it doesn't hurt films of his like Aliens or The Abyss because those films largely stayed away from making 'issues' of any sorts, instead focusing on just being entertaining thrill rides and spectacles, which they most certainly are. Then Titanic which certainly suffers from a lot of 'rich evil, poor good' and one-note characterizations (and Billy Zane), is all too simplistic on those levels but still packed enough emotional power through the grandeur of Cameron's direction to make it work. Then came Avatar, the lovechild of many years' toil and effort by Cameron. Well, I hand it over to him for effort, and I know many love the film and I won't try to discredit that, but personally I consider Avatar to be an exemplification of Cameron's greatest weaknesses as a director largely, though I'll get onto an even bigger issue in a bit. Cameron's direction isn't terrible, he handles the action scenes well, and there are a few awe-inpsiring moments within the battle scenes where he brings a bit of a human element in. Most of the time, however, he seems lost in trying to impress rather than immerse the viewer in the world of Pandora, leaving many sequences which attempt to inspire, however aesthetically impressive, surprisingly hollow. There was definitely passion in the making of the film but in my opinion, very little of it comes through.

As for Blomkamp, I'll be the first to admit that he too is running the risk of becoming an extremely heavyhanded director who relies on the same old tricks in an increasingly tired fashion. Elysium and Chappie were examples of him Tim Burton-ing his style and themes into a far too overblown fashion, resulting in the final product's impact being particularly muted. In particular, Chappie suffers from having an incosistent set of tones to its comedic and dramatic sides, both being extremely lacklustre and feeling like retreads of similar films; Elysium takes a fascinating concept and ruins it with some extremely questionable direction of performances and again, tone. The tone Blomkamp strikes with District, however, is pitch perfect. The story about a spaceship full of aliens landing above Johannesburg in South Africa, and after several failed attempts at integrating them with human society the South African government putting them into 'District 9', a squalid little shanty-town, could've easily come across as overwrought as Dances with the Wolves in space, I mean Avatar, suffers from, but instead it comes across as very natural and intriguing. There is the minor issue about the documentary framing narrative being dropped less than halfway through, but by that point the world we're in has been so well established, and the plot set in such engaging motion, that one doesn't really care. The insightful look into societal conventions soon transitions into a compelling action-cum-body horror movie, and it manages both the horrific and disturbing moments of human oppression of the 'prawns' and our hero Wikus Van De Merwe's (Sharlto Copley) struggles against the system. There's a reason Blomkamp's been chosen to diret the future Halo adaptaton as he makes each action sequence as invigorating to experience as a video game. It's always fascinating to watch and exciting, but Blomkamp never forgets that he's telling a very humane sci-fi story underneath the spectacle, and balances both the epic scope and intimate aspects with aplomb.

Winner: Neil Blomkamp, District 9

Lead 

Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) vs Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley)

I absolutely love one performance, and find one extremely boring. I don't even know if it's fair to do a comparison because of this but I'll give it a shot. Worthington's performance is perhaps the textbook definition of bland, bland, bland. His character, Jake Sully, is a paraplegic veteran who's given a new lease of life so to speak through a military programme which places him on the planet Pandora in a new body which he acts through as an 'avatar'. The performance is already somewhat limited on the outset, because a lot of it is mo-cap in the sequences where Sully regains mobility. Worthington does nothing to alleviate this limitation and the paper-thin script by basically just going through the motions in his performance. He's never more than serviceable in the action sequences and whenever the script asks for something more from him, he can't quite deliver. It's not an entirely terrible performance as he has a few good emotional moments here and there, particularly in his reactions to one character's death scene, but otherwise it remains fairly all-too-standard work that can't engage us as the heroic lead in the same way Leonardo DiCaprio, Ed Harris and Sigourney Weaver thrived with James Cameron's direction.

As for Copley, what more can be said that if you're going to hate on Copley for his recent string of hammy with a capital H villainous roles (which is not unwarranted), let's take a look at his debut acting role which is as a very simple, average man who works for the government as a MNU agent tasked with evicting 'prawns' from their households to concentration camps. Copley somehow makes a rather inconspicuous, meek man who deals more in paperwork than anything else so charming. He's looking for a promotion with his every action and is technically quite a toadying government bureaucrat of sorts, but we instantly like him as this fellow we happen to be following through a documentary, even if the actions he's doing are technically reprehensible.

Even when confronting crime lords and ordering alien eggs to be burnt, these shady dealings are leant some degree of relatability because Copley doesn't play Wikus as some sort of hero, Wikus is just a man. Which makes his subsequent, very unique character arc so affecting when Wikus begins being infected by some alien chemicals he'd come into contact with on his job. He's marvellous in the physical portrayal of this illness that's consuming him, and makes the great SFX and makeup work resonate even more through his gradual evolution into an alien-esque creature extremely harrowing. Wikus is soon captured by the government, which leads to one of his best scenes in the film as he's used for government experiments, showing a man absolutely terrified by his situation and powerless yet so powerful at the same time. His heartbreaking reaction to having to kill a prawn is amazing.

Soon the film turns into a prisoner on the run film as Copley escapes and seeks refuge with an alien he'd come into contact with before, 'Christopher Johnson'. Copley's portrayal of the 'hero' is so much more compelling than Worthington as he both shows the drive and determination to find a cure for himself as being intertwined with an inherent selfishness. He's convincing in both teaming up with aliens and working with them to find a way to escape to the mothership, but also in showing how he's not above some less than honourable means to gain his own ends. Which leads to the explosive finale of the film where Wikus finally chooses to do the right thing for others and not just himself. Copley is a brilliant rousing presence in his final few action scenes, but always remaining a very human figure to identify with who's out of his depth, making his final fate all the more tragic. In fact, my favourite scene of his contributes to this directly, his final scene where he espouses his love for his wife. It feels so remarkably genuine and helps make the conclusion to District 9 more affecting than expected.

Winner: Sharlto Copley, District 9

Ensemble

Again, no contest. No one really stands out that much from the District 9 ensemble. Even Jason Cope, who has the second most substantial role as Christopher Johnson and the speaking prawns, mostly gives a mo-cap performance, but he does it very well within these limitations. David James as the sadistic Colonel Koobus Venter is an adequate villain, nothing more but he's not required to be. Collectively the whole cast feels like a realistic set of entities which is perfect for a film striving for realism within the sci-fi setting. As for Avatar however, the collection of characters, human or alien, all are caricatures. Dances With Wolves is not a flawless film but at least its human characters felt very human, in Avatar everyone's a walking stereotype, from the nerdy scientist friend to the other nerdy scientist friend, to the gung-ho military sort played by Stephen Lang who's decent but also has very little to work with. The government bureaucrat here has nothing of the complexity of Wikus, and Sigourney Weaver is seriously underused in a role that shows just how far Cameron's dropped off since Aliens.

Winner: District 9 

Screenplay

Though I have issues with Avatar's direction, that's nothing compared to its script. James Cameron has never really been known as a screenwriting virtuoso, but the strengths of his other films helped to balance out the flaws in his screenplays. Here, as aforementioned, the characters from top to bottom are all incredibly shallow without purpose, and I particularly cringe at some of the lines they give Michelle Rodigruez that make her a completely distracting, near-parody version of her usual screen image. The story of Avatar is relatively simple yet still somehow feels dragging and convoluted, and that some of the dialogue feels like rip-offs of Independence Day is not a good thing at all. District 9 on the other hand, has a brilliant script. As I've mentioned, it implements its moral and social message with the plot perfectly, and manages to make every scene have the perfect balance between that style of Blomkamp sci-fi and an underlying humanity. Its plot is structured tautly and meticulously, and there was never a moment I thought was underwritten or overwritten.

Winner: District 9

Special Effects

Controversial, controversial. The special effects in Avatar are most certainly something to behold. Each scene is pretty incredibly rendered from a purely objective perspective, and it's impressive work in creating the world of Pandora and the Na'avi, even if the script and direction cause it to ultimately feel quite lifeless. District 9 however, should not be sniffed at in the effects it uses for the prawns, the violent sequences, and that mechanized battle suit in the third act. Plus the gradual transformation of Wikus into a prawn is subtle but extremely great work. With a relatively limited budget of 30 million USD, that they managed to utilize it for effects as great as this is just...wow. 

Winner: District 9

Cinematography

The effects in Avatar are something to behold. The cinematography? Not so much. Never bad, so to speak, but nothing too impressive, the landscape scenes are done in a very conventional way, as are the battle scenes. District 9 strikes a perfect balance between realism-inducing shaky cam to convey the grittier moments, and a more vivid and visually grand scope to film the more stylized sequences, which fits perfectly in with the mix between the documentary style of filming and the action sequences. 

Winner: District 9

Editing

Avatar is a long, near three hours long film and unlike say, The Hateful Eight, feels like a three hours long film. It drags on and on and there's certainly a sense throughout that a lot that the pacing is off, as even sequences with merit like Sigourney Weaver's death scene feel way too drawn out. District 9 on the other hand, is a film that moves pretty swiftly from one point to the other, but always feels perfectly placed, and never shortchanges any aspect of the film. It also shows up a lot of the flaws of something like Elysium where poor editing makes it hard to distinguish where the climax begins, how it's built up to, etc. 

Winner: District 9

Sound

The sound effects in Avatar are perfectly fine, but the sound effects, particularly in the very gory scenes and hard-hitting moments, of District 9 are on an entirely different level.

Winner: District 9

Set Design

I'll admit I don't really know how to judge Avatar for this, but the design of the spaceship, while perfectly adequate, is nothing compared to the set design of say, Aliens. District 9 on the other hand, realizes its Johanessburg slums brilliantly, and conveys such an overwhelming vibe of decadence and griminess in each scene that's very impressive. Plus the design of the mechanical designs and laboratories are great, even though the overuse of similar imagery in Blomkamp's subsequent films may have resulted in a diminishment of the impact.

Winner: District 9

Soundtrack

Don't interpret this as me throwing Avatar a bone or anything. I like the soundtrack to District 9 a great deal, but Avatar's score seems to be something out of a much greater film. It's the late great James Horner, so that's to be expected, but he gives certain scenes of the film a much more impact than they probably deserve because of his sterling work in this regard. 

Winner: Avatar

Final Result: District 9 (9); Avatar (1)