The Neill Blomkamp Movies Ranked
DISTRICT 9 was one of those movies that, for quite a few years after its release, was in the rotation of my favorite films of all time. While it may have dropped in that estimation in more recent years, it still is a tremendous movie and the kickstarter of, well, a very strange career for its director Neill Blomkamp. Blomkamp has had more films, mostly adaptations of famed sci-fi franchises that fit the style molded across his earliest shorts and first couple of features, publicly languish in development hell before getting canceled than most any other modern filmmaker. Those experiences led to bold, if not very successful, internet-based distribution for small, scrappy shorts meant to hold promise for feature length projects. And since those creations and a stealth horror production, Blomkamp seems to have turned to work-for-hire fare…although who knows, his obvious video game fandom may have extended to the “source material” for GRAN TURISMO. In viewing the 33 movies (five features and 28 shorts made over the 19 years since 2004) for this piece, I came to the conclusion that Blomkamp’s abilities and potential have perhaps been frustrated more than elevated since DISTRICT 9, making my ongoing advocacy for the director all the more strange for me.
#33 — BAD PRESIDENT: OIL SPILL (2017)
Let me begin by explaining Oats Studios. This company/initiative was formed by Blomkamp after the relatively lukewarm reactions to his features ELYSIUM and CHAPPIE and years of talk about his work on, then leaving, projects like a Halo movie, Alien sequel, etc. Released on YouTube and Steam, Oats’ shorts were high-concept bits of sci-fi (mostly) that were often essentially meant to act as trailers for potential feature-length projects. Blomkamp had an insane 2017 through this set-up, releasing 13 shorts in that year alone. The thing is…most of them aren’t very good, and a few are less high-concept and more low internet sketch fodder. Some of the very worst make up a “trilogy” under the banner of “Bad President.” The first, BAD PRESIDENT: OIL SPILL, is undoubtedly the worst of the series and indeed Blomkamp’s worst directorial effort in his whole career. This “skewering” of Trump is so bland and toothless. It’s weirdly understated and not even as over-the-top as the former president himself, so it doesn’t feel like a parody of anything. OIL SPILL is a grim example of Blomkamp’s attempts at out-and-out comedy.
#32 — BAD PRESIDENT: ALL MY SH*T (2017)
BAD PRESIDENT: ALL MY SH*T is only marginally better than its predecessor in that something technically “outrageous” happens in it, as opposed to the meandering conversation of OIL SPILL. Even still, this three-minute short is a slog. ALL MY SH*T appeared to be the end of this lame concept/execution, but unfortunately, Bad President would return…
#31 — LIMA (2017)
Some of Blomkamp’s Oats’ shorts are not only trailers for potential future projects in that they act to introduce some concepts, they also are literally cut and play out like trailers. LIMA is a very short short (just under a minute) and it doesn’t really tell any kind of story. It just features the kind of sci-fi iconography Blomkamp is known for. LIMA is a true nothingburger in a sea of Oats nothingburgers.
#30 — BAD PRESIDENT: KENYA (2020)
Blomkamp has only sporadically returned to the Oats format in the years since 2017, perhaps indicating that Volume 1 wasn’t a great success (solidified by the fact no bigger projects have really ballooned out of it). One of the returns to the channel was also a return to the Bad President series, rounding out the idea with an only marginally better concept. With BAD PRESIDENT: KENYA, Blomkamp transports the titular ruler into an action movie, here and there illustrating his bad personal and political behavior. It definitely has more going for it visually then the previous shorts. But even still, KENYA is a flop, neither serving up effective satire nor truly engaging action sequences.
#29 — KAPTURE: FLUKE (2017)
A decent portion of the Oats shorts were created with a 3D animation technology that looks like it dates back at least ten years before they were made. That is the case with KAPTURE: FLUKE, the first of two Kapture shorts that feature a dystopian weapons manufacturing company and two of its scientists testing out outrageous firearms on prisoners who expect their life sentence to be commuted…and it was, by death. Its tone is one of cynical humor, and especially with its strange weaponry, echoes something like the Ratchet & Clank games while looking worse than those original PlayStation 2 entries ever did. FLUKE has the uncanny effect of Robert Zemeckis’ CG animated films like THE POLAR EXPRESS (2004), which is on the whole a bad thing.
#28 — KAPTURE: LOCUST (2018)
KAPTURE: LOCUST is just a bit better than its predecessor because of its central weapon: a swarm of locusts with bombs strapped to them. It’s kind of a funny idea, but the banter between the two scientists is so lackluster that it completely undersells the wacky concept. LOCUST isn’t an improvement in animation technology either, so it’s just about in the same realm of quality.
#27 — PRAETORIA (2017)
Like LIMA, PRAETORIA has the tone and editing style of a trailer…for, ultimately, vaporware. And video game terminology is the right thing to use for these “short films,” because they carry the visuals and cheese of a lot of AAA sci-fi interactive releases. PRAETORIA is ultimately a whole wisp of nothing, containing not a thread of interest for me, let alone any kind of emotional or narrative stakes. But in the midst of all this negativity I should profess that there’s something interesting about Blomkamp, once heir apparent to a whole school of blockbuster filmmaking, just throwing out half-baked ideas, some of which are cool, onto YouTube.
#26 — VINCENT (2023)
VINCENT is the second of two shorts produced for Blomkamp’s “Off the Grid Cinema” project so far, itself named for the upcoming battle royale video game narratively designed and “world built” by the filmmaker: OFF THE GRID. I can’t believe something animated for 2023 looks this bad. I guess this could fly as a true cutscene found within a video game, but VINCENT is truly ugly and lacking any compelling story elements. It certainly doesn’t make me want to play OFF THE GRID if and when it comes out. Essentially attempting to impart intrigue for a futuristic dystopia, the corporate espionage angle of VINCENT just feels dry in the context of a story meant to be continued elsewhere.
#25 — SWITCHER (2022)
SWITCHER preceded VINCENT in the OFF THE GRID project and it’s only marginally better. Even more clearly off-putting in its CG execution, it at least has the benefit of some action that is more engaging in the moment. But make no mistake, there is a floaty-ness that makes even the action feel without stakes. And like many of Blomkamp’s shorts, SWITCHER feels half-baked and like an unreliable promise for something better, or at least bigger, to come.
#24 — ADICOLOR YELLOW (2006)
I haven’t yet addressed the branded filmmaking Blomkamp has done over the years. While I’ve avoided including out-and-out commercials, which Blomkamp was doing in the early 2000s, and even music videos, I have ranked some of the more ambitious short films commissioned by various companies. One such effort is ADICOLOR YELLOW for Adidas. I’m not really sure how it ties into the product, but the short utilizes Blomkamp’s early handheld documentary style to show a robotic personage “going rogue.” It once again plays like a trailer for something, but at least in this case, it has a nugget of an idea that could be drawn out into something more interesting. ADICOLOR YELLOW just doesn’t stand on its own.
#23 — COOKING WITH BILL: DAMASU 950 (2017)
Along with Bad President, the Cooking with Bill series of four shorts spawned from the Oats era as an attempt at an Adult Swim-style comedy. On the whole, it’s unsuccessful, but as you can see, it’s not nearly as mind-numbing as Bad President. COOKING WITH BILL: DAMASU 950 has promise as it presents an ‘80s-style cooking show, complete with bubbly and corny hosts, that pulls out outrageous appliances. In the case of DAMASU 950, the titular device is essentially a big chainsaw. The problem with the short is that the prop doesn’t really go properly crazy. I wasn’t expecting for it to really chainsaw through a turkey, but when the male host cuts off his hand, it just feels like it wouldn’t do that based on the previous demonstrations. I’m thinking too much about this short. I’m just trying to figure out why DAMASU 950 isn’t funny, which may be a wasted effort.
#22 — COOKING WITH BILL: SMOOTHIE (2017)
Something DAMASU 950 has going for it is that it ends with an eruption of wild activity, even if that activity is not very funny. The comedic timing for the other Cooking with Bill shorts is all wrong, trailing off after a “disgusting” reveal without so much as a final punchline. COOKING WITH BILL: SMOOTHIE follows the premise of the other two shorts to come on this list: Bill and his assistant put some stuff into an apparently convenient gadget and the result is something gross. In this case, Bill gulps down a drink full of hair. SMOOTHIE’s lifeless timing just ruins what could have been a decent gag.
#21 — COOKING WITH BILL: PRESTOVEG (2017)
COOKING WITH BILL: PRESTOVEG doesn’t end with Bill eating or drinking hair. It ends with its vegetarian device bafflingly spitting out a tray of rotten meat. The look and feel of that rotten meat is at least somewhat convincing, a very small victory for PRESTOVEG that nevertheless doesn’t make it funny.
#20 — GOD: CITY (2018)
Blomkamp’s two God shorts pull in old friend Sharlto Copley to play a refined British creator who morbidly lords over a tabletop of his humans and landscapes. GOD: CITY, the second one, just didn’t land with me as much for some reason, perhaps because the concept wasn’t so incredible that it had be repeated. Ordering his manservant to create fire and a tornado to mess with the citizens of a city, God laughs. I get the satire, and it’s certainly more effective than Blomkamp’s other comedic shorts, but CITY’s SimCity-like CG effects aren’t enough to sell the humor again.
#19 — ADAM: THE PROPHET (2017)
The third in a series of shorts produced within video game engine Unity (although Blomkamp only directed the latter two), ADAM: THE PROPHET’s story doesn’t obviously connect to that of episode two. It also suffers from a preponderance of human faces, which fit into the uncanny valley, even as the effect is much improved from the Kapture shorts, for example. Ultimately, THE PROPHET’s teases to a dystopian world don’t hold much water with me.
#18 — GDANSK (2017)
While GDANSK undoubtedly looks worse even than a similarly dark medieval fantasy work like Zemeckis’ BEOWULF (2009), there’s something about its Dark Souls-esque evocation that I don’t hate. It’s undeniably still not a good self-contained short, like everything else that’s come before on this list. But GDANSK, to further the FromSoftware video game comparisons, has lo-fi vibes that hearken back to their King’s Field series, so at least it has that going for it.
#17 — TETRA VAAL (2004)
TETRA VAAL was Blomkamp’s first short film, made after a few years of visual effects work and commercials, and even with an only one minute runtime, it carries the techniques and themes he would apply throughout his career. It has robot police, dystopian futures, and handheld camerawork mixed with news media footage. And while it too feels like the Oats work to come as a trailer for something better, considering its scrappy origin with visual effects work bigger houses couldn’t even really do yet in 2004, TETRA VAAL is a more impressive experiment.
#16 — ANTHEM: CONVICTION (2019)
Commissioned as a narrative trailer of sorts for the BioWare game ANTHEM (2019), ANTHEM: CONVICTION actually does work as a taste of sci-fi concepts and an exploration of, well, emotions. It’s not like it’s a truly well-rounded short film on its own, but the visual effects of flying mech suits and the world of the game are pretty impressive. CONVICTION is relatively colorful and executed in the midst of Blomkamp’s Oats period, so it definitely feels refreshing in that context.
#15 — GOD: SERENGETI (2017)
In depicting Copley’s God as a fickle and merciless creator with a caveman population, GOD: SERENGETI is definitely more successful than CITY. While not exactly cutting edge, the diorama look of the tabletop God and his manservant interact with is creative and pleasing to look at. It’s not laugh-out-loud funny, but GOD: SERENGETI is clever enough to warrant its relatively high placement on this list.
#14 — COOKING WITH BILL: SUSHI (2017)
They say comedy is surprise. And that’s probably why I liked COOKING WITH BILL: SUSHI, because yeah, I didn’t expect him to eat sushi full of hair. The short is just about as lamely ridiculous as its companions, but there’s something about the way Alec Gillis as Bill performs the dutiful eating of the sushi that truly makes me laugh. SUSHI is no masterwork, but it’s safe to say it’s one of the better Oats (micro-)shorts.
#13 — ADAM: THE MIRROR (2017)
ADAM: THE MIRROR is where Blomkamp stepped in on the Unity Adam concept and it is a decent set up for a world. Because it features only robotic figures and night scenes lit up by fires, the graphics more effectively communicate a fidelity and moodiness than THE PROPHET with its stark desert scene and human “cast.” THE MIRROR, once again, is not a great self-contained exploration of sci-fi concepts, but it does have the juice to sustain my interest.
#12 — DEMONIC (2021)
Ah, we get to the first feature on this list, and obviously Blomkamp’s worst. Made in secret during stricter COVID protocols and after the biggest gap between his features at more than six years, DEMONIC obviously had a much smaller budget than even DISTRICT 9. That’s not the mark of a good film, but dialogue that isn’t inane, horror moments that aren’t just a recycling of conventions, and performances that don’t feel like they’re out of a warped version of a Hallmark movie can be. There’s something to DEMONIC’s blend of sci-fi and paranormal horror, and I actually liked the stripped-down look of its central virtual reality setting (it looks like a PS2 game in a good way, and that even kind of has a narrative excuse/reason!). But there’s no way I could say that even its best ideas sustained my interest for long. DEMONIC is the kind of movie I want to root for (low-budget return from a much-hyped filmmaker), but it’s just, simply, not good.
#11 — TEMPBOT (2006)
Utilizing a robot design repurposed for CHAPPIE almost ten years later, Blomkamp’s TEMPBOT is “THE OFFICE (2005–2013) meets robotic dystopia.” A robot employee works in a soul-crushing job in the weirdest and most claustrophobic office layout I’ve ever seen (something in the film’s favor) and seems to come to learn about human relationships. But in the short’s final moment, the robot mistakenly believes it should grab a female coworker’s breast, leading to it being reassigned to an all-robot workplace. I’m not sure I totally get the commentary, but there is a deadpan weirdness baked into and coaxed out of TEMPBOT, and that strangeness does have its version of impact.
#10 — HALO: LANDFALL (2007)
Like ANTHEM: CONVICTION, HALO: LANDFALL was made in conjunction with a video game company to promote its upcoming release; in this case, Bungie and Microsoft for HALO 3 (2007). The result is a short that maybe isn’t as technically advanced as CONVICTION, and perhaps even more narratively muddled, but it is roughly thrilling in its own way. And the virality of the short is totally fixed in my mind as a tween coming online both in terms of the literal internet and pop culture. It, besides his other full-fledged sci-fi work, is what made fans, and then by extension some suits, want Blomkamp to make a feature-length Halo adaptation. While that didn’t happen, LANDFALL is an interesting piece of internet, video game, and Blomkamp’s career history.
#9 — ALIVE IN JOBURG (2005)
Finally, a Blomkamp short that was indeed a trailer for something bigger and better. ALIVE IN JOBURG was the director’s test case for DISTRICT 9 and carries all the themes of that feature. Its effects are quite impressive for its time and its production scale and even features Copley. Stylistically, the short is very messy, but then that’s kind of what Blomkamp was going for. ALIVE IN JOBURG has the kind of roughness that was ironically refined for DISTRICT 9, but it still operates with an inventiveness that is engaging to watch all on its own.
#8 — THE ESCAPE (2016)
Made just before the flurry of Oats Studios releases in 2017, THE ESCAPE is a short commissioned by BMW, apparently continuing the story of a series of other films featuring the car manufacturer’s products. Starring Clive Owen, Jon Bernthal, and Dakota Fanning, the story depicts a getaway driver’s rescue of a clone from a mercenary group and the shady bioengineering company that made her. The implications of all this are a little more heavy than I expected from what is almost just a BMW commercial. And in fact, the execution of the whole thing is much more impressive than I expected it to be. It’s not like the car chases of THE ESCAPE are revolutionary, but the combination of Owen’s stoicism, Bernthal’s aggression, Fanning’s innocence, and yes, engines going vroom vroom all make for a compelling watch, with an emotional arc all its own!
#7 — ZYGOTE (2017)
One of three of Oats Studios’ “longer” shorts (all in the 20 minute range) that also happen to be their best, ZYGOTE is a take on THE THING (1982) starring Fanning. Once again, she plays a kind of marginalized bioengineered being as one of the two surviving mining crew members in the Arctic. A creature is after both of them, and once it is finally revealed, the body horror effects are sufficiently chilling and creative. ZYGOTE takes a while to get going, but once the monster appears and Fanning is truly on the run, the tension is palpable, making the production value finally worth it.
#6 — FIREBASE (2017)
Blomkamp’s supernatural Vietnam-War-set thriller FIREBASE doesn’t always work, but when it does, it’s good genre fun. Somewhat pulling on the threads of pagan horror, the short also builds to a mid-run reveal of a creature that is creatively designed and affectingly gross. Gory and tense, FIREBASE does suffer from an abundance of jungle-horror tropes and military cliches to match. But those faults aren’t enough to disguise its good creepy elements, especially in the field relative to the other Oats shorts. It’s a little strange to say FIREBASE is one of Blomkamp’s best movies, because it’s not incredible, but I’ve found that in terms of sheer quantity and runtime, most of Blomkamp’s work isn’t very good.
#5 — RAKKA (2017)
The first Oats short is undoubtedly the best. RAKKA depicts a world overrun by serpentine aliens, with humans in the vast minority and living in hiding. The scale of the film’s effects is really impressive, echoing DISTRICT 9 in the best way. Ironically, considering it’s usually the other way around for me, the narrated explanations of the world, set to different remarkable and despairing images, are stronger than the person-to-person interaction and central story, even if it does feature Sigourney Weaver. But those portions aren’t bad, just a little cheese-ily written and performed, and I’m not always opposed to cheese. The fidelity of the aliens’ appearance is high and far outclasses anything Blomkamp has done with his other short films. Unlike most of his other shorts’ promises, RAKKA is able to tease intriguing threads while delivering its own satisfying visual and narrative themes, making it Blomkamp’s best short.
#4 — GRAN TURISMO (2023)
I did not expect to like GRAN TURISMO as much as I did. It’s not really an adaptation of the game series (which, you know, features no plot to speak of). It’s a “based on a true story” movie working from a person who used the game to become a professional race car driver. Blomkamp’s return to big-budget filmmaking is still not a triumph. GRAN TURISMO is a sports movie with all the cliches that entails and acts, like the sport of racing, as a big old advertisement for a hoard of brands, including Sony itself of course. But the film has a charm that, if not supersedes, then disguises many of its faults. Blomkamp and cinematographer Jacques Jouffret distinguish the movie from other entries in the racing genre by often pulling out to make the scenes look straight out of the game and by drilling down into the machinations of the cars, showing pistons firing, gears turning, etc. This creates an interesting dichotomy between the aching(ly cringe, at times) emotion of the human story and the (semi)reliable abilities of the machines, a theme not uncommon to Blomkamp’s work. GRAN TURISMO’s acting MVP is clearly David Harbour, and while even he can’t always salvage an emotionally compelling through line with the dialogue given, there’s enough heart to the movie to create entertainment.
#3 — ELYSIUM (2013)
As the follow up to DISTRICT 9 and to the biggest gap Blomkamp had taken between any directorial work at four years, ELYSIUM was highly anticipated. I was anxious for its release as well, but somehow, even working at a movie theater as it was still in theaters, I missed it. Visiting it for the first time ten years later, I understand the contemporary disappointment with it. While DISTRICT 9’s commentary is never subtle, ELYSIUM’s didacticism is heavy-handed and not as wonderfully performed by either actors or visual effects, in spite of Matt Damon’s presence and a higher budget. But then, subtlety is sometimes overrated. The scenario depicted by ELYSIUM is only a hair removed from the reality today, which has only worsened in the ten years since its release. The story is paced somewhat strangely, with various resolutions and inciting incidents throughout the film not landing with strong emotional effects, but the overall thrust and theme of the movie is felt and compelling. ELYSIUM is flawed through and through, but it’s a much more interesting and visually alive film than many of its bland sci-fi contemporaries.
#2 — CHAPPIE (2015)
Speaking of outshining blandness: CHAPPIE is a maximalist, if not masterpiece, then exemplar. The film’s titular character was memed to death in certain circles and Die Antwoord’s central presence in the film didn’t help matters, but I unironically love the movie’s bizarre tone, all the way down to Hugh Jackman’s terrible haircut. Although I’ve lambasted Blomkamp’s attempts at comedy, the earnestness of a film like CHAPPIE and its take on post-ironic futures is a successful example of the filmmaker’s use of it. And I did end up caring for the weird little robot; it’s a great character design and does a lot of the legwork in making the “creature” sympathetic. CHAPPIE is a profoundly misunderstood film; its mess is the entire point, or at least why I love it!
#1 — DISTRICT 9 (2009)
Even after I watched a long run of mostly not good shorts, I knew Blomkamp’s debut feature and breakout hit would not be diminished in my eyes. If anything, I’m a bit more in awe of how good DISTRICT 9 is while Blomkamp’s subsequent career has been more miss than hit. Now that I’m not a teen, I see its apartheid commentary in its true unsubtle form, but that doesn’t make it less potent to me. The sci-fi realism the director is able to impart is remarkable, especially for an era full of handheld mockumentary films attempting to capture the vibe of “exposing” some fantastical element in our world. Copley’s performance is still the best of his career, and there is a scene involving his fingernails I’ll remember forever. The effects are pulled off to great effect, even viewing them nearly 15 years later, and the film’s whole form is still effectively innovative and fresh. DISTRICT 9 is not only one of the great sci-fi films of its time, but also one of the best movies period; by a country mile, it’s Blomkamp’s best work.
