District 9

District 9 is big-screen science fiction at its best. I would be more than happy to end the review with that one sentence, so as not to spoil the movie experience for any of you planning on watching this wonderful film. So I warn you, this review contains some spoilers. Don’t read further if you don’t want to know any details of the film before you go watch it. But don’t worry, I won’t tell you about the good stuff or ending.

Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley) finds himself in charge of the relocation of an alien race that arrived over the skies of Johannesburg, South Africa in 1982. The race of aliens which humans have named Prawns, for their likeliness to the crustaceans, are stuck on earth and forced to live in slums. Wikus works for Multi-National United (MNU) a private corporation that has been hired to relocate the Prawns to another concentration camp-like area, District 10. With little opposition from the local population of humans, who have grown tired of the ensuing conflict with the aliens as a result of a clash for territory and better living conditions, the plan to relocate moves forward. MNU make their claim that they do so to help improve the quality of life of both the human inhabitants of Johannesburg and the aliens, but their real mission is to investigate the aliens’ advanced weapon technology, which can only be fired by the aliens.

While Wikus goes from shanty to shanty, working out the legalities of the move with the resident aliens, he becomes infected by an alien virus or chemical, which slowly begins to alter his DNA from human to Prawn. MNU captures Wilkus and discover that he is now able to fire the alien weapons, thus making him a very unique and expensive asset to the company. However, when Wilkus finds out he is to be dissected and studied, he manages to escape. As a fugitive, he finds no refuge amongst humans, friends, family or strangers, so he makes his way back to District 9 to hide. The movie had been pretty good so far, but it would only get better.

The story is highly entertaining and original. The special effects are great. And the characters are very interesting with unique and lively personalities, human and alien. There are several questions that one may keep asking themselves about the plot as they watch the movie, but I feel that they are fully answered and all holes are filled. However, it might take several viewings of the film to fully understand and appreciate every little detail of the story. So for your first watch, just enjoy it. District 9 is what great sci-fi is all about. Director Neill Blomkamp is a new-comer to the big screen but we quickly find out why producer Peter Jackson, best known for his awesome zombie movie Dead Alive and some other movies about a ring or something, had been so adamant to work with him. Blomkamp did a wonderful job and I hope this guy becomes the go-to man for the genre. No more Michael Bay, please!

I highly recommend this movie and if I haven’t sold you already here are some things that you will miss if you don’t watch District 9: Aliens, Action, Lasers, BFG 9000, and mo’fucking MECHWARRIOR.

And for those of you interested, there is a short film by Neill Blomkamp entitled Alive in Joburg from 2005 which is the basis of District 9. You can watch it here.

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