District 9 Review

District 9: Once in a great while a movie comes around that is so original and so different, that it is hard to categorize. District 9 is one of those movies. It breathes much needed fresh air into the Sci-Fi/Alien genre. The movie opens with a documentary type of feel, with many experts from various fields catching us up on what has transpired over the past two decades. Twenty years ago a huge alien spacecraft came to a haulting stop hovering over the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. Instead of the typical "destroy the earth" scenario, the ship just hovered there with absolutely no activity taking place. Three months went by and finally humans decided to cut into the ship to see if they could make contact. What they discovered on the inoperable ship was a million malnourished and sick aliens. They decided to bring the aliens down to Earth and put them into a militarized camp named District 9. From here the film uses the unusual scenario to comment on everything from racism, slavery, concentration camps, slums, military experiments, and so forth. Our main character is a man by the name of Wikus who is in charge of moving the now 1.8 million aliens (known as prawns) to a new camp located outside of the city. This is thought to help clean up the city from all the crime happening in and around District 9. While Wikus is inside the District he becomes exposed to an alien fluid which changes his DNA. It was so refreshing to sit in the theater and have no idea where the story was going to lead. I will say there is plenty of action, some disgusting moments, and even a love story thrown in as the movie reaches its climax. As for the look of the film - the prawns look very realistic as does their interaction within the environment. It only takes about 20 minutes to get past the weird aspect of aliens and humans living together. It then becomes "Harry and the Hendersons" believable. The end result is a very original and a very entertaining film. In fact, it is one of the best Sci-Fi films that I have seen in a long time!!

Ry's Rating B +

If this movie had parents they would be: E.T. & Amistad

With a runtime of 111 minutes

This film is rated R