DISTRICT 9 is Director Neil Blomkamp’s extraordinary vision, produced/branded by Peter Jackson (as the replacement project for a stalled Halo movie), and it is the surprise hit of 2009!

The repressed alien society of Johannesburg, South Africa screams at the apartheid system of government that has haunted the country for many years. There are even private security contractors in the film under the name of MNU, who like the company formerly known as Blackwater, appear to be above the law as they make themselves the self-declared overlords of District 9. MNU’s enemies are treated worse than animals and the alien prawns suffer throughout the surreal, engaging, and adrenaline lined story of a man hunted amidst the aliens in the concentration-camp-like region. MNU desires technology for weapons and above all money, and no moral code can get in their way as the realistic scenes that fly by on the big screen pull at your humanity.

When a prawn’s emotions get the better of him at one point the creature slams an arm into the wall – the way any human might in frustration – and the prawn-child’s persistent remarks to return home make you very aware of this toddler’s youth. It takes a lot to come out of a great action movie feeling for aliens, despising humans and thinking on humanity’s current transgressions, but Blomkamp puts together a phenomenal film.

Grade: A-