A New Species of Sci Fi

Rating: 9/10 (29 August 2009)

Aliens come to Earth. Which means they're here to attack and destroy us right? Usually, that's the case. We've seen it in countless film, like Independence Day, Alien Vs Predator, and even Mars Attacks. However, Peter Jackson and first time director Neil Blomkamp take us in a different direction with their film District 9. Blomkamp avoids all the alien movie clichés, including an all star cast and a major American city.
Instead of a hostile alien species, the aliens in District 9 are leaderless drones who make an emergency landing over the city of Johannesburg, South Africa (rather than New York or LA). The aliens are malnourished and leaderless, so the South African government places them in District 9, which quickly becomes a slum crawling with aliens and South African gangsters who demand to learn how to use the aliens' supercool weapons. The aliens begin causing trouble within the city, sparking a relocation effort led by the evil MNU (Multi National United) Corporation. All MNU really cares about is learning how the alien weapons work, much like the gangsters. However, neither side has learned anything.
Leading the eviction cause is Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), a enthusiastic MNU agent who passes through District 9 with glee, happily evicting the aliens (who will do anything for a can of cat food) and burning down houses with their unborn young inside. The eviction sequences are what JJ Abram's Cloverfield should've been. Copley ad-libbed all his lines during the "documentary" sequence of the film, and he makes feel as if we're watching an actual documentary. Wikus' world goes to hell, however, when he sprays himself with some alien liquid. On the plus (or minus, depending on how you look at it) side, he can operate the supercool alien weapons. He becomes the most wanted man in the world, and hides with a friendly alien (and the alien's cute son) in District 9.
It's refreshing to see a new sci fi flick after so many clichéd failures (the recent Star Wars Episodes I and II). A native South African, Blomcamp casts mainly his fellow countrymen into his film. Copley, who helped Blomkamp create Alive in Joburg, the short film D9 is based off of, is destined to be a star some day. It's also good to see a sci fi movie set in another major city in another country. And, finally, the aliens are not the bad guys in the film. As lame as it sounds, District 9 may make you embarrassed to be a human.