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Once upon a time, about two years ago, an unknown director was announced to do a Halo movie. Outraged that a new director would dare to cut his teeth on such a movie, the film-making community rebelled, and banished the new director without giving him a chance. Or so they thought. Little did they know that the director was working on a sci-fi movie, one of the greatest sci-fi stories the community had seen in a while. And when the director presented the public with this story, his name echoed triumphantly through the halls and his praises were sung throughout the realm. It was then, while the director they banished sat high atop his great sci-fi story, the community knew. They had indeed fucked with the wrong director.

Ok, so maybe Neill Blomkamp's District 9 didn't translate into something quite so prolific, but in reality making such a well presented movie his first time around has to feel quite good. The fact that many people doubted he could do it, would make it feel even better.

In this film Blomkamp's use of different camera styles blend seamlessly with a great cast and a great story to give you an unabashed look into deep issues such as segregation, emotional atrophy and the brutal side of human nature. At the same time, in a amazingly creative and innovative fashion Blomkamp follows the plight of extraterrestrials that evokes some of the strongest feelings of compassion and empathy for an alien race since E.T..

District 9 tells the story of extraterrestrials that came to Earth by accident and how a community in Johannesburg, South Africa that once greeted the aliens warmly 20 years ago, now want nothing to do with them. The just over one million aliens were initially put in an area called "District 9" temporarily but as resources and people's patience wore thin so did the interest in regulating the district and ultimately it became a slum. With escalating crime and violence within the district, a private company called Multi-National United or MNU was put in charge of relocating the aliens. While doing this, an MNU field agent becomes exposed to alien biotechnology and suddenly becomes the target of a huge company manhunt.

The Ups
It would be extremely remiss of me to not mention the camera work right off the bat for this film. Blomkamp's blended use of documentary style work, first person accounts, steady cam usage and camera shots reminiscent of reality t.v. were all incredible to watch. Not only were they all put together extremely well but the cinematography in this movie compliments each and every style. Much credit goes out to Trent Opaloch and Blomkamp for their combined efforts in that area.

The acting in this movie from the entire cast is an area in this movie that gets some much deserved praise also. Sharlto Copely's portrayal of Wikus Van De Merwe is, without exaggeration, flawless. From the very first scene of the movie you sense the excitement about his promotion and the blindly apathetic manner in which he carries it out. The aliens, which are derogatorily called "prawns", are to be evicted and relocated to another district, and it's with an almost enthusiastic malice that we first are introduced to how Wikus deals with them. Throughout the film, Copely expertly exhibits a full range of emotion of someone who is suddenly presented with brutality he was unaware of within the company he worked for, the horror and pain of physically losing his humanity and emotionally losing everything important to him.

The creation of the main alien character, Christopher Johnson, is an important factor in District 9 which deserves all of the acclaim it's been getting, if not more. His intelligence, struggle and emotion are all tremendously felt on screen expressed from a unique personality brought to life by individual mannerisms and extremely clear facial expressions.

Another area that I really enjoyed about District 9 were the special effects. Every effect created by CGI in this movie give good, clean images that push the sci-fi element of the story along very nicely. Which was an accomplishment in and of itself, considering the very small $30 million budget they completed this movie with. In the middle of overdone and overpriced special effects that are done poorly or just put together badly it was very refreshing to not only see good special effects, but see them used in such a way that the story supported and not just for the sake of having them. The violence in this movie is shown with stunning clarity but never did it leave the feeling of being forced or unmerited. It was wisely used to show different aspects of the film with a brutal grittiness which, for me, only enhanced the emotions it provoked.

The Downs
Despite a very good performance by Den Antonakas as the lead MNU security agent, I did feel his character was a bit over the top as the gun-toting, alien-hating stereotype. From the first moment of introduction you know that: a) He has a gun, and b) He likes to shoot aliens. Beating them is o.k. too. A sentiment that is both reinforced by his team's nickname of "cowboys", and held without deviation throughout the movie.

This also plays into another minor gripe which was that some of the characters who are portrayed as "bad guys" seemed a bit too bad. Meaning they seemed almost one dimensional in character since we are given almost no interaction with them outside of them shooting at aliens, that's basically it. No back story or glimpse as to who they are is given, they are just bad. This kind of portrayal almost works with this movie, except that in the midst of the final showdown between Wikus and Antonakas' character, Koobus Venter, a small part of me wondered why he was going to such great lengths to oppose Wikus. It was as if you clearly understood he was bad, you just didn't understand why.

The Wrap Up
District 9 is an unbelievably good introduction to Neil Blomkamp, and a story that holds a place among great science fiction movies. The film is both well thought out and well presented in a way that engages you from the first scene. The story in this movie brings to stunning life the plight of an alien race and a complete human transition through well executed special effects and CGI, brilliant camerawork, and unbridled emotion from truly unique characters. These factors alone would merit a trip to the theaters to see it, but when shown with undertones of prejudice, segregation, violence, redemption, triumph and hope that to some extent all of us can relate to, it equates to District 9 not just being a great movie, but a powerful message.

The Final Score
8.5 out of 10