District 9 is a sci-fi thriller by Peter Jackson directed by Neill Blomkamp.
SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Sharlto Copley in "District 9"
District 9 opens with a short documentary-style interview footages which cover the alien spaceship which hovers above Johannesburg, South Africa. After months without contact, humans take initiative by cutting into the ship only to find prawn-like aliens mostly malnourished or sick. These aliens are then housed in a government camp called District 9.
The movie then starts after 20 years of the alien’s arrival. District 9 has slowly turned into a slum and the situation is out of control as humans want the aliens out, therefore, an organization called Multi-National United (MNU) takes over with the interest in aliens’ advanced weaponry rather than the aliens’ welfare.
An MNU field employee, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is promoted to undertake the task to move 1.8 million aliens to a new District 10 camp located more than 200 km from Johannesburg. Wikus is exposed to a mysterious alien device which squirts a dark liquid on his face. Soon after, Wikus’ left arm mutates into alien-like claw and is taken into custody by the MNU with series of experiments performed on him. When the MNU decides to harvest his body for biological material, Wikus fights back and escapes from MNU.
During his bid to hide from the MNU, he ends up in a shack belonging to an alien called Christopher Johnson whom Wikus has taken the alien device from. Christopher explains to Wikus he needs the device to fuel his shuttle to return to the mother ship. Christopher also tells Wikus that with the mother ship, he can fix Wikus’ mutated arm. Wikus then pays a visit to a Nigerian criminal gang to buy the weaponry he needs but when the Nigerian discovers Wikus “prawn” arm, they intend to chop if off for their nutritious benefit. Wikus manages to grab a highly advanced alien weapon and blast it at the gang disintegrated a few Nigerians in the process.
Wikus and Christopher then storm into MNU in order to retrieve the fuel device. With their advanced weaponry, they manage to retrieve the fuel device but while there, Christopher has discovered that MNU have been experimenting on his people. When they return to Christopher’s shack, Christopher tells Wikus he needs at least three years to fix Wikus’ arm. Furious, Wikus knocks Christopher down in order to power the ship by himself. His attempt fails when MNU manages to destroy one of the shuttles engines and the shuttle crash lands inside District 9. Thereafter, MNU mercenaries and the Nigerian thugs begin to fight over the possession of Wikus van der Merwe. Although, the Nigerian manages to capture Wikus, Christopher’s son Little CJ gains control of a mechanized battle suit located in the Nigerian camp and wipes out the entire gang in order to rescue Wikus.
Wikus returns Christopher a favor by donning the battle suit and assisting him to escape to the shuttle. Christopher promises Wikus that he will return in three years time while Wikus continues to destroy all that stand in his way. When Wikus finally falls and is ejected from the suit, the leader of the MNU mercenaries point a gun on Wikus at point blank range. Then, by some means, aliens begin to surround the mercenary before they disassemble him.
Christopher and his son manage to reach the mother ship and evacuate Earth while it is shown Wikus has finally transformed into a alien as he waits for Christopher’s return.
Overall, District 9 is one of the most thrilling films in 2009 even though it combines documentary-style of Cloverfield, the slums of Slumdog Millionaire rather than being just an ordinary alien movie.
My ratings: 9 out of 10.
Popularity: 1%
