directed by Neill Blomkamp
20 years ago an alien spacecraft came to Earth. It hovered over Johannesburg, South Africa. After observing it for some time the South African authorities sent troops up to the spacecraft. They cut it open and found lots of human-sized bug like aliens inside. They brought them down to the ground and set them up in an area close in to Johannesburg.
The aliens have been kept separate from the human public but it has been decided by the authorities that the aliens need to be moved further away from Johannesburg. MNU, a private military corporation, is charged with evicting the aliens from District 9. Wikus Van de Merwe, a high level bureaucrat, runs the operation but he also goes along with the troops as they serve eviction orders on the Prawns, the derisive name given to the aliens.
Wikus stumbles across something incredible valuable, a black cylinder that contains a rare fluid. In a moment of bravado he starts messing with it and it sprays him with some of the fluid. It gets in his eyes and on his skin. He cleans is off him and thinks he is okay but unbeknownst to him his body has started to transform.
It isn't until much later when he collapses at a surprise party, thrown in his honor, that he is taken in for observation. MNU scientists take him to a secret research facility where horrible experiments are being conducted on the aliens. The get Wilkus to try firing some alien weapons, which are keyed to alien DNA. Humans can't use them but Wilkus can now that he has started to change.
The MNU scientists and his boss (who is also his father-in-law) decide that Wilkus will have to be dissected in order to study him further. The process will kill him but they all agree that it has to be done. The only one to object is Wikus. He fights back, escapes, and takes refuge in District 9. MNU is not ready to give up on him just yet. They send their elite military unit, Division 1, after him.
Wikus wants his life back. He runs into the alien who was hoping to use the black cylinder to power the mother ship. Together they break into MNU's headquarters and recover the black cylinder. The alien has told Wilkus that if they can get up to the mother ship then he can heal him but he wasn't completely honest with him.
Wilkus and the alien wind up tangling with the Division 1 troops who have been ordered to retrieve him for military research purposes. They are also pursued by Nigerian gangs who live in District 9.
Thoughts
This was a wild ride. The first 20-30 minutes are shot like a documentary about the operation to evict the Prawns. It doesn't really start to get interesting until Wikus gets infected.
I love how this movie kept me guessing what comes next. It was chaotic throughout. There were a number of pieces on the board, some of which I didn't mention above or only mentioned in passing. The movie includes a lot of shaky cam, especially during the eviction and action scenes. This movie probably isn't for everyone. I feel like this story isn't new but I think that the team that made it did an excellent job packaging it.
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