Neill Blomkamp's Last Shot: Reimagining a Cult Classic

In 2009, a director praised by the great Peter Jackson surfaced from the hot South African soil, one that had started seducing a few people with certain pretty wild science fiction ideas related to the class differences of his hometown Johannesburg, making some of his terrifying childhood dreams come true. The person in question is Neill Blomkamp, a type of renewed freshness that presented a tragic, bitter docufiction in equal parts with his great District 9, a brutal anti-apartheid allegory. A story in which the word "humanity" is overrated, and we solely see monsters akin to us: beings with human faces who show their most vile, repugnant, greedy and despicable side.

The protagonist of Blomkamp's spectacular debut in this journey is Wikus van de Merwe(played by actor Sharlto Copley, who had known the director for a few years), a government agent in charge of relocating aliens that have been stranded on planet Earth for twenty years, unable to find the means to return to their home planet. But the director created something unexpected: a spectacular concept that seems out of the minds of the greatest, a twist that served to visually present science fiction while, behind all that, emphasize a ruthless social critique. Instead of showing aliens as a threat, humanity is actually presented as such. His first—and only—great work received one Academy nomination for Best Motion Picture, proving that the first test wasn't just passed, but that it also surprisingly blew winds of change for lovers of the hardest science fiction.

This South African metropolis is, according to the director's words, a mix of the glamour and superficiality of Los Angeles and the poverty of the most vulnerable areas of Rio de Janeiro. I guess it's a matter of perspective because, if you think about it for a second, all big cities have marginal and wealthy areas in almost equal parts. In this way, the director came up with his great cinematic debut and also its two non-official sequels: Elysium (2013) and Chappie (2015). Two films that didn't measure up to his powerful presentation letter, but that did place the South African director as an—almost—expert in the dystopian/realistic genre. For the film starring Matt Damon, the budget was larger due to the success of its predecessor, but Blomkamp was gradually softening his visceral sense of the mise-en-scène to build structures much more in line with Hollywood's standards. Nonetheless, it can be said that he did know how to adjust pretty well and avoid selling himself as most directors do.

Elysium stands out for the action, but its story feels recycled from the director's prior work. The movie is set in 2154 in Los Angeles, which is shown just like the director sees Johannesburg—a city ruined by the collision of classes. There are only decaying luxury buildings and a population on the verge of collapsing. Blomkamp was able to not only increase the budget, but also push the limits, leaving our planet to place the upper class on an artificial, spheroid world where the rich live separated from the poor. Damon plays one of the flattest roles of his whole career in a battle against time and the urge to see social justice done once and for all. Was it done? Of course. At least in fiction it was.

Nonetheless, for his third science fiction project—created during a burst of inspiration while shooting Elysium—the director decided to adopt a much hopeful, familial approach with the exciting Chappie, which is basically RoboCop and E. T. all in one. Blomkamp's idea was to start a trilogy within this world of robots and implanted consciences, but the critics and box office performance didn't follow along as planned. Set a year after its release and directly connected to District 9, the film proposes a light, introspective science fiction comedy in which the first AI of the world is presented in a childlike robocop figure eager to conquer the world.

Clearly, Blomkamp's intentions were to give himself a break from so much seriousness and craft a pseudo-epic that would set the foundations for the construction of a world where AI and humans can coexist in harmony and peace. But from that release onward, fo six years, nobody heard his name in Hollywood's halls nor the world of cinephiles. His absence was a complete mystery. Where was this genius? What was he doing? During pandemic times, he moved to Canada and secretly shot Demonic, his lowest-rated and most forgettable movie with which he made a 180: a 100-minute R-rated nonsense in which a woman is tormented by the visions of a past where her mother is the devil in person.

Blomkamp exploring horror with science fiction? The move seemed to have buried his career thanks to the countless flaws that can be found in this—almost—experimental, incomprehensible thriller attempt. Firstly, the empathy the character evokes is null. Unlike his prior films, the director chose to present the greys of morality as the protagonists, something that wasn't successful. The visuals, which mix videogame simulations with the typical mise-en-scène of the genre's most mediocre movies, feel empty and generic.

It seems that big ideas are slipping through Blomkamp's fingers. And all this is confirmed in a certain way with the news of his new project: a remake of the cult classic Starship Troopers (1997), directed by the great Dutch Paul Verhoeven. But this news is wearisome for those people like me who complain daily about the lack of imagination and, at the same time, it's luring for science fiction lovers. And the thing is Blomkamp may have his career renaissance in his hands. What better than a dystopian, bloody political satire to put the director of District 9, a film apparently along the same lines, back on the map?

Published on MARCH 31, 2025, 16:47 PM | UTC-GMT -3

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