" Can anger, frustration, apathy, racism, prejudice, compassion and friendship be Universal? "

Rating: 9/10 (29 January 2010)

Peter Jackson's claim to fame has already been established with his world renown Classic, 'Lord of the Rings.' His experience and expertise was the impetus behind writer/Director Neill Blokamp's superb film entitled " District Nine." If history is any guide to Human behavior it's prominently displaced in this incredible film. The story tells of the events which follow when a rag-tag group of Aliens called Prawns arrive on the Earth seeking refuge. In typical Earth style, they are accepted and settled in a desolated area of Johansburg, South Africa called District Nine. Greeted with interest at first, over time the Earth people's original curiosity is replaced with anger, apathy and resentful disdain. That prejudice results in their host erecting restrictive barrier's, bared wire fences and eventually to imprisonment. The general population is apathetic to their plight, with only the Military taking a definite but collective interest in their alien weaponry. Deciding to move the Alien encampment to a distant location, a relocation commissioner Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley) takes a personal, but artificially sympathetic approach to their resettlement, that is until he is contaminated with a strange black fluid and begins to evolve into an Alien. His mutation causes him to realize he has become an outcast like his targets. With the government, the press, the military and a select group of lethal mercenaries out to capture or kill him, things become more serious. Further he discovers an ally in a pair of highly intelligent and compassionate Aliens. The movie is jam packed with fast paced action, explosive confrontations and human complexities and as a result this movie will become a triumph for Neill Blokamp and Christopher Johnson who plays all the Extraterristals. Great entertainment. ****