District 9

what would you do if someone handed you 30 million dollars and said “here, make a movie, and do whatever you want”?

Peter Jackson did just that for lucky up and coming director Neill Blomkamp, and boy did he deliver.
Blomkamp's highly anticipated action film, is a captivating 151 minutes of onscreen magic.
Co-written by Blomkamp and writing partner Terri Tatchell, District 9 is a compelling original story that will keep you at the edge of your seat.

28 years ago a space ship settles over Johannesburg. Three months later, humans find a way to penetrate the ship and discover close to a million starving aliens. Not knowing what to do, the government cloisters them in an area they name District 9.
Almost three decades later, the area has become a slum filled with violence and corruption.

The film opens as a documentary following our protagonist Wikus (Sharlto Copely) on the first day of his newly appointed assignment of heading the government's resettlement of the aliens 200 kilometers outside, and out of sight, of the city.

Part of the “resettlment” includes the searching for and collecting of weapons.

Things go horribly wrong for Wikus when he discovers a mysterious vial of fluid. He accidentally sprays himself with what turns out to be DNA altering liquid.
Now everyone wants a piece of him and the film turns into a massive manhunt.

There are definitely a lot of things to keep us talking about this film for a very long time.
Most notably Sharlto Copely. He glides in and steals the film completely. Not bad for someone who never aspired to be an actor.

The story does take it's liberties with a few borrowed ideas:
-Pairing an alien with a human to make a commentary on racism (Alien Nation).
-Wikus pulling off his fingernails (The Fly)
-The larger than life exoskeleton (Aliens)

And it's not without its flaws and plot holes:
-Where were the female aliens?
-Why didn't he just tell the gangster how he got the arm?
-Inter galaxy prostitution? You saw that guy pee, right?
-Wikus thought he'd hop in the space ship and figure out how to fly it as he went along?

This is an ambitious film, to say the least. The topics it touches on are innumerable and difficult, and certainly unsolvable in 151 minutes, regardless of the amount of CGI.

Take it for what it is, and go see District 9!
You're going to want to have seen it on the big screen. Especially once the sequel comes out. And there will be a sequel. In about three years.

moot or hooey?
Sharlto Copely was a film producer who Blomkamp roped into playing the lead after he used Copely a couple of times as a stand in.