District 9 movie trailer and review

 Sony Pictures

This may be the summer blockbuster we have been waiting for. District 9, directed by Neill Blomkamp and produced by Peter Jackson is now in theaters. This film is intense for the entire 2 hours. Chock full of unbelievable CGI effects that interact seamlessly with their surroundings and the actors around them.

The story is told in a mocumentary style with interviews spliced into the action. One day an alien spacecraft appears and hovers above Johannesburg. The aliens make no attempt to contact the outside world and when humans finally break in it appears that the alien race is stranded inside of their ship without food or means to get home. The aliens then benefit from a humanitarian effort and are relocated to the ground. The situation quickly turns ugly with clashes between the residents of Johannesburg and the aliens. Their strange appearance and disgusting behavior does not evoke much sympathy from the human population. The humanitarian effort then becomes a containment effort. The aliens are housed inside of District 9, which quickly becomes a slum. The human residents that surround District 9 demand that the aliens be moved from the center of the city to a far off location.

In comes bureaucrat Wilkus van der Merwe, played by Sharlto Copley to serve eviction notices and uproot the aliens. When compared to his armed escorts Wilkus has a soft spot for the alien race, but he does enjoy the sounds made when he sets fire to homes full of alien young. This film follows Wilkus van der Merwe's effort to move the aliens and his subsequent exposure to an alien virus that eventually forces him to take refuge inside of District 9. While inside of District 9 he befriends an alien and his son and uncovers a plot to build a space craft in order to return to the mothership.
A lot of human effort is also spent on understanding alien weaponry. The weapons seem to be superior to those of the humans but will only work when controlled by the aliens. This movie does have a few holes; Why don't the aliens use their weapons instead of cowering away from the humans? How is the mothership able to hover above the city but is somehow unable to fly home? How is it possible for both the aliens and humans to speak their native languages and understand each other? It is a movie about aliens, it is not hard to suspend disbelief and ignore those questions.

Not only does this film have unbelievable special effects it has a very touching love story. So often we see torrid love affairs between the underaged or those that are cheating on their partners. This film shows the love and dedication an average man can feel towards his wife.

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