It really is that good.

If you haven’t been under a rock lately you know that District 9 is absolutely killing the box office since it’s opening last Friday. I wasn’t going to post about it because it sure isn’t difficult to find out more if you’re curious. Then I figured what the fuck, you’ll never write if you don’t write about stuff people have already posted. This post may or may not be full of spoilers. Consider yourself warned.

District 9 is a new twist on the first contact action movie. Actually, that single sentence really covers the hype quite nicely. It’s big because it really is a new twist on the genre. There’s a lot of fanfare about how the film doesn’t use any big-name actors either, but that’s a load of BS. All that proves is that (generally) big-name actors are overpaid and overvalued. A good story is what holds a film together, and District 9 has it in spades.

The story is that an alien race has ended up on Earth after their ship malfunctions. Instead of laying waste to the planet or making an effort at communication that we inevitably fuck up (a convenient social commentary for edgy directors also resulting in the aliens laying waste to the planet) the ship pretty much just sits there. When we eventually get inside we find the aliens malnourished and scurrying around like rats. They’re intelligent, but approached in much the same way that an uncontacted Amazon tribe might be. They have communication skills and a distinct set of cultural and social norms. Yet their technological wizardry seems, for the most part, to have stopped at intergalactic travel and so-called energy weapons. The notion that the more intelligent members of their race have died out somehow is brought up but not addressed much.

They’re brought out of the ship and into a refugee camp named (you guessed it) District 9 ostensibly so that they can be treated and brought back to health. After 20 years the alien population gets out of control and humans are quickly losing patience with the alien presence. So, the regulatory body responsible for them decides to move District 9 outside the city. In the process, the main character is infected with alien DNA or something like that. This gives him the ability to fire the alien weapons (a process which had eluded humanity until then) and makes him pretty much the most wanted guy on the planet. Manhunt ensues, etc. etc. I’ll leave the plot summary there.

The point is – it’s different. There’s still plenty of action (even a few explosions and a f’in Mech man, a Mech!). But it’s not an elusive and and vastly superior alien species. In fact, my impression is that they’re just a few hundred years ahead of us. They don’t pour out of their ship shooting “green shit” and blowing everything up. And they communicate like us, which means we can communicate with them. I’ll admit – it’s a little too easy. They breathe air, communicate vocally, are roughly human size – but it just doesn’t get in the way in District 9. It’s not like Star Trek where you slap some pointy ears and a wrinkled nose on a guy and you’ve made a new species.

There’s an examination here of the social response to aliens living amongst us, and the very-realistic challenges that we have in learning from them. It’s intriguing, but it doesn’t move like molasses either. The storytelling and narrative structure (the story is about the main character, more than it is about the aliens) contribute to a well paced movie with plenty of action for those less interested in the more thought-provoking story elements.

This is an alien movie with something new to offer. Definitely get out and see it. In fact, you should even pay to see this one.