Release: Now showing
Duration: 112 minutes
Rating: MA (strong violence and coarse language)

We all have our visions of what aliens look like. There was Spielberg, who postulated that they were small wrinkly old women who liked to phone home. George Lucas gave us Jabba the Hutt, Wookies and (unfortunately) Ewoks. Ridley Scott gave us the facehugger, which was butchered in Alien vs Predator. Finally, who could forget Keanu Reeves coming out of the closet and admitting he was the extra-terrestrial harbinger of the apocalypse in The Day the Earth Stood Still? Well now another alien movie has landed in our cinemas and the South African director Neill Blomkamp and his hairy friend Peter Jackson want us to believe that the extraterrestrials look a lot like prawns.

Expanding on Neill Blomkamp’s short film, Alive in Joburg, the movie is set in present day South Africa where a huge alien mother ship floats ominously above the city of Johannesburg. Its occupants, nearly one million malnourished aliens, derogatorily named ‘prawns’ by the local population, are stranded on Earth. Unable to leave, and with no food on their ship, the aliens are relocated to a slum. Welcome to District 9.

The story starts several years after these events. The local people are fed up with their government spending money and energy looking after the aliens and thus the decision is made to relocate the intergalactic crustaceans to a new settlement outside of the city. The government outsources the project to a private military company called MNU - Multi National United, who clearly have more than the interests of the aliens at heart. Upstart employee Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is placed in charge of the operation by his wife’s father and MNU’s shady boss. Wikus’ unwavering loyalty to his job causes him to proceed in the mass eviction regardless of the human rights violations his company commits. His appointment also creates a bitter grudge within the MNU among mercenaries who hate taking orders from civilians.

On one of the eviction missions, Wikus is exposed to alien DNA, which causes him to slowly transform into one of them. As a consequence Wikus becomes the only human who can operate the aliens' futuristic weaponry. This in turn makes him the most wanted man on the planet. Pursued by MNU and by Nigerian gangsters, Wikus must hide in the only place that they won’t find him - District 9.

Wikus’ story is told as a part mockumentary, part thriller. Interviews and television camera footage fill in most of the backstory and provide us with the public interpretation of events. Fake political analysts give their verdicts on the actions of the main players, shining a light on issues such as racism, human rights and big business conspiracy. It’s important to note that while movies such as Cloverfield and Quarantine were shot exclusively on hand held cameras, which could cause nauseousness in audiences, District 9 doesn’t overdo it. When events occur outside of the public eye we are treated to some solid camera work and it’s clear that Jackson has applied the spit and polish.

Special effects are state of the art. The opening shot of the huge derelict space ship hovering above Johannesburg will cause your spine to tingle. The alien weaponry and vehicles, as well as the creatures themselves, look eerily believable and they stand out in the slum-like environment in which the story plays out. The aliens are given great personalization, each one reacting differently to their human counterparts. Some adopt a subordinate role, accepting food bribes while others react aggressively to human demands forming militias just as humans would.

Setting the movie in South Africa is a bold move that hopefully other directors might take note of. District 9 may be one of the few alien flicks to be filmed outside of America, and what a refreshing change it makes. Frankly I am a little bit sick of seeing the Statue of Liberty and the White House blown up for what feels like the millionth time.

There is also historical significance to the film's South African setting. Signs indicating racial separation between aliens and humans are plastered all over the city: limits are placed on the amount of children that aliens can have and the derogatory term ‘prawn’ is constantly used to describe the aliens. The comparison to the apartheid regime is clear. So, as much as you will enjoy the sci-fi experience, there is certainly a message about race and social prejudice that comes across too.

Wikus is a likeable protagonist and credit must be given to Sharlto Coply. His transition from a loyal, ignorant employee to a more accepting and open minded person is truly engaging. His relationship with his wife is especially emotive and you can’t help but empathise with the innocent couple as they get caught up in a web of conspiracy that neither of them expected. Their love contrasts well with the rather stone faced soldiers and executives of MNU who seem to have no capacity for empathy whatsoever.

For the record, District 9 isn’t your average alien movie. If you're expecting to see a horror movie such as Alien or Aliens you're probably not going to get what you want. And if your tastes lie more in line with sci-fi classics like Star Wars, you might not get the futuristic battles and lightsabre duels which you're used to either.

Don’t get me wrong, District 9 still asks you to suspend belief but it also makes you think about the great divides that still conflict contemporary society.