9 stars.

Rating: 9/10 (23 May 2020)

If the aliens were to land, would they be hyper intelligent beings that know things about our galaxy far beyond what we could ever comprehend? District 9 envisions them in a whole different way. Truthfully, it's exactly how it would be in our reality. The aliens here are prawn creatures, suffering from intergalactic income inequality and starvation. Upon crash landing to earth, they are subjected to Jim Crowe-like laws that separate them from humans and are eventually placed into internment camps. The irony: this all takes place in South Africa.
District 9 is half mocumentery and half bodily horror movie. It is equal parts brilliant. It's one of the most innovative and original alien films out there. It approaches this subject matter so soberly, it feels real. It's science fiction, that cleverly treads softly on fantasy. The prawn creatures are fascinating to look at. Even more fascinating is the smarmy journalist and his transformation into a prawn creature after being exposed with top secret alien tech. For what this film was trying to be, it succeeds in being.