District Awesome

DISTRICT 9 is one of the best films of the year!!! I really enjoyed this film so much. Set in Africa, we can say that African actors and actresses are really good like Sharlto Copley and the director and the CGI equals awesomeness!!


In 1982, a large alien spaceship stops above Johannesburg, South Africa. Reports suggest that the ship became stranded after a command module separated from the ship and dropped to Earth, nowhere to be found. After cutting their way inside, an exploratory team discovers a large group of unhealthy and leaderless arthropod-like species. These alien creatures, derogatorily referred to as "prawns", are taken from the ship and housed in a government camp inside Johannesburg called District 9, which soon turns into a slum. In the first decade of the 21st century, Multinational United (MNU), a private military contractor, is placed in charge of policing and relocating the now 1.8 million aliens to District 10, a new camp 240 kilometers northwest of Johannesburg.

Wikus van der Merwe is the MNU field operative assigned to lead the relocation, which begins with the serving of eviction notices on August 9, 2010. As this continues, some nearby aliens are shown distilling a liquid from a piece of their technology into a small canister. While raiding one of the aliens' shacks, Wikus discovers and removes the container, accidentally spraying some of the liquid onto his face. One of the aliens (named Christopher Johnson by MNU) questions the legality of the eviction served on him and demands his rights. That night Wikus falls ill and is taken to a hospital, where his left forearm is revealed to have mutated into an alien appendage, and is quickly taken into MNU custody. After discovering that Wikus can now operate alien weaponry due to his mutating DNA (the weapons being unresponsive to humans), they intend to vivisect him before he fully transforms, in an attempt to replicate his ability. In a panic, Wikus uses his new strength to overpower his captors, and escapes.

Now a fugitive, Wikus takes refuge in District 9 and returns to Christopher's shack. Noticing Wikus' arm, Christopher reveals that the canister Wikus confiscated contains a fluid that would allow him to access the mothership and leave the planet. After revealing that the lost command module is hidden under his shack, Christopher agrees to help reverse Wikus' genetic transformation if Wikus, in return, retrieves the canister. Wikus agrees and tries to buy weapons from the local Nigerian gang. Their leader, the paralyzed warlord Obesandjo, seizes Wikus, seeking to gain his ability to operate alien weapons, which he believes he will achieve by eating Wikus' mutated arm (as he believes in Muti). Wikus manages to get his hands on an alien firearm and quickly holds Obesandjo hostage for a cache of weapons.

Wikus and Christopher break into the MNU offices and retrieve the canister. They fight their way out of the building and flee to District 9. Christopher, having previously seen that MNU is performing medical experiments on his race, informs Wikus that he has decided to return to his home planet to seek help for his people before he cures Wikus, which would take three years. Frustrated, Wikus knocks Christopher unconscious and powers up the command module with the help of Christopher's son. Soon after takeoff, one of the craft's engines is shot down by MNU, and it quickly crashes nearby.

MNU forces take Wikus and Christopher prisoner, but Obesandjo's gang ambushes them. The Nigerian gang captures Wikus and prepares to sever his mutated arm for Obesandjo. From the command module, Christopher's son activates the mothership and a mechanized battle suit that kills Obesandjo and his men. Wikus then gets into the suit and rescues Christopher from the MNU mercenaries, allowing him to get to the command module. Promising Wikus that he will return to reverse his transformation, Christopher returns to the mothership. Heavily wounded and in a much more advanced state of his mutation, Wikus crawls out of the battle suit and is confronted by Venter, the sole survivor and captain of the MNU squad. Before he can kill Wikus, aliens in the camp dismember him.

Christopher activates the mothership and Johannesburg's residents celebrate its departure. A series of interviews and news broadcasts are then shown, providing various opinions on the events. The aliens are successfully moved to District 10, said to have a population of 2.5 million and growing. MNU's illegal experiments on aliens are exposed. Some people theorize about Wikus' fate, while others hypothesize that Christopher Johnson might return for the refugees, or perhaps declare war on humanity. Wikus' wife reveals that, having found a small metal flower on her doorstep, she has hope that her husband is still alive. In a scrapyard, an alien with a bandaged left arm crafts a flower out of metal.

Overall, I really recommend this film highly. Based on their acting and the aliens, it is so good.

Rating: 5 stars