Review: DISTRICT 9

Movie: District 9
MPAA Rating: R for bloody violence and pervasive language
Running Time: 1 hour and 52 minutes
Stars: Sharlto Copley
Writers: Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
Director: Neill Blomkamp

Every so often, a movie comes around that leaves you and the people around you in utter disbelief at what you're watching that you don't look away or even blink during it. Every so often a movie comes around that shocks you to your core, or makes you rethink your life. Every so often a movie comes around that makes you laugh, cry, cheer, empathize, loathe, or many other gaggles of emotions. Every so often, a movie comes around that is called a modern masterpiece (several of those proclamations have proved false upon multiple viewings). Well, I am here to tell you folks that "District 9" is truly a masterpiece of modern cinema.

Take equal parts "Blair Witch Project", "Cloverfield", "E.T." and a whole lot more originality than what I'm describing and you'll know what you're getting with this amazing film. It starts out with interview footage of our main character Wikus Van De Merwe (newcomer Copley), talking about the alien ship that has been hovering around the town of Johannesburg, South Africa for the last 20+ years. More interview footage is shown before we are thrown into the actual story itself. The people of Johannesburg have grown tired of the aliens that have been sectioned off from them by the government into District 9, a slum area rife with gangs, violence, etc. Apparently a lot more crime has come of them being here and after many complaints by the townspeople surrounding the area, the government has decided to re-locate the aliens to a new area, District 10. Wikus is sent in with the military to evict the aliens (called rather derogative-ly Prawns) and is not met with much happiness (he is often met with hostility from the visitors). The government is also looking to take all the technologically advanced weaponry the aliens are hiding. In searching one of the houses, Wikus finds the motherload of weapons and a cylinder that accidentally opens and sprays him with a liquid that begins to infect him and turn him into a Prawn.

To say more, would only ruin the excitement that you will feel watching this. Prior to seeing the film, I knew that the budget was $30 million, and I figured the special effects would really be hurt by the lack of funds, but it only aids the movie. The effects are amazing! The gore is also well done too, sometimes it even splatters the camera lens. What's even more astounding is that apparently a lot of the dialogue was improvised. The sharky cam, documentary style cinematography is great (rare praise from me considering I don't like my action movies to nauseate).

Much has been said about the film's newcomer director and producer Peter Jackson ("The Lord of the Rings" trilogy), making "D9" after their plans to make a feature film adaptation of the hit video game "Halo" fell through. In my humble opinion, I'm glad it all fell through, because if they hadn't we would not have "D9" and the best movie of the summer (high praise, considering this has been the summer for lame blockbusters, after 2008's "The Dark Knight"), even quite possibly the entire year.

My overall score for the film is a perfect, must-see 5 out of 5.