DISTRICT 9

Director: Neill Blomkamp
Stars: Sharlto Copley, Vanessa Haywood, David James, Jason Cope, William Allen Young
Year: 2009
Rating: R

District 9 is an original, well-told, well-made, and at times touching film about what happens when aliens from another planet land on earth ... and, for a change, we humans take over and force them to live our way (note: this is NOT a good thing). Set in Johannesburg, South Africa, the film opens with a gigantic mother ship that's been hovering over Johannesburg now for over two decades; in mockumentary/reality-TV style, we learn right off that the large ship has made no attempts at action, communication, or in fact anything since its arrival. Like a dead beast hanging in mid-air, the ship had been a huge question mark to the human race ... until a crew was sent up to investigate.

Inside, said crew found a large population of aliens that appeared to be malnourished, sickly, and fearful of any human contact. In order for them to survive, these aliens were brought down to earth - relocated, if you will - to District 9, a sort of "relocation camp" within the city where not only could they be housed ... but also watched. Not all of the aliens liked this arrangement, over time, and soon the entire section of District 9 became a low-income housing ghetto - complete with rampant crime, gangs (human and alien), and most of the district's residents (often raiding garbage cans for food) living in shacks instead of real homes. Things are, in other words, getting quite tense in this section of Johannesburg - with some human casualties involved, which only goes further to feed the alien prejudice growing within the city at large.

All of this thanks to MNU - Multi-National United - a huge conglomerate pretty much in charge of everything both scientific and military with regards to the aliens (who, by the way, have been nicknamed "prawns" because of their similar appearance to the animal - though it's also a dig at the fact that prawns tend to be scavengers). In fact, as the film opens MNU has decided to relocate the prawns into a concentration camp-type set-up outside of town, as things have become so strained between humans and aliens ... and the company has appointed newly-promoted worker bee Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley) to head the relocation scheme.

It's never explained how humans are able to understand the prawns' language, but Wikus soon sets out, complete with a clipboard and a bevy of armed soldiers, into the ghettos of District 9, going door to door to inform each residnet that he/she is being evicted and has to leave immediately. It's a funny/odd process, watching this - the nerdy but singularly-opinionated Wikue even has each resident alien sign a form, acknowledging their understanding of the eviction - and soon Wikus and crew discover one particularly interesting shanty house, in town, where a prawn named Christopher (and his son) has an entire computer network set-up that is obviously a sign of something strange going on (in this world, you see, prawns are not allowed to have computers - or weapons, or really anything humans are allowed).

From some earlier foreshadowing, we indeed know that Christopher is plotting something (to leave earth with his small son), and while the alien "man" and child are taken outside, Wikus investigates their home further ... and ends up accidentally getting spritzed in the face by a metal cylinder he finds in his search. Initially getting a bit ill, Wikus ends up seemingly okay ... until, as his day goes on, he discovers that - incredibly - he's slowly turning into a prawn himself.

Worse still, MNU finds out - and learns they can use him to their advantage not only to learn more about the prawns, but also in developing some pretty intense weaponry. They do, in fact, plan to dissect Wikus - unless Wikus can not only escape from their experiments, but also make his way back to District 9 and the very prawns he loathes, in order to get help from the one being on earth who can maybe help him ... Christopher.

District 9's anti-apartheid message can't be missed here, but thankfully it's also not beating the viewer in the head with any obvious political agenda. The characters - both human and prawn - are amazingly real, the CGI effects seamlessly weaving into the human world so that never will you disbelieve what's going on on-screen. It's a beautifully-made film, and the story of the friendship/alliance eventually formed by Wikus and Christopher is, at the core, what gives District 9 its resonance; its heartbeat. Each character remains true to his nature, both good and bad, while learning to work with the other.

And this is my only complaint with the film, really - that the relationship between these two characters gets a little lost, in the end, in favor of explosions and violence and special effects. South African-born Sharlto Copley turns in a terrific performance as the nerdy, not entirely likable Wikus - who, in the end, must step up for a fight that, inside, he doesn't even entirely believe in. Copley's coming up in the new A-Team remake, and moviegoers on this side of the world will definitely be seeing more of him.

As said before, the look and feel of the movie are very original and spot-on - beautifully made - and the ending even has a touch of quiet hope and solemnity about it that may well tug at the heartstrings. Most importantly, with so much unoriginal science fiction hitting both theaters and television screens these days, District 9 offers a fresh, emotional take on an old story. And that alone, along with the quality of the production (much of which, I'm sure, is thanks producer Peter Jackson), makes it well worth seeing. ***1/2 - Reel Cool-Reel Awesome