Think The Office meets Alien Nation: that would be the high concept description of District 9. And that’s literally what it is, taking the best elements of both—and then some. The movie is shot in a cinéma vérité style with most of the story being told through character interviews, television news clips, even footage from security cameras.In 1982, a huge alien spacecraft comes to a stop above Johannesburg; even the South Africans are surprised it didn’t stop over some American city (as they always seem to do, the reporter in Monsters vs. Aliens told us), but instead of the usual “threat from the stars” or the answers to our energy and health needs, the passengers aboard the spacecraft—all two million of them—are pretty much clueless: they don’t even understand how much of anything aboard their ship works and are apparently stranded here.The South African government settles them in one of the shantytowns on the outskirts of the city in an area they designate as District 9. Two decades on, increasing friction between the citizens and the newcomers prompts their removal to the newly established District 10, some 200 miles away from the city. The relocation of the aliens is contracted to Multi-National United, a company so evil it makes Omni Consumer Products (the conglomerate from the RoboCop series) look like the United Way. Heading the relocation is Wikus Van De Merwe, the Director of MNU’s son-in-law. Wilkus is literally the South African version of The Office’s Michael Scott, a guy who thinks he’s cool but who's really totally clueless.
To tell you more about the plot would spoil the delightful surprises of this movie but I will say the biggest surprise is its subtlety, wit and intelligence. It is truly a “thinking person’s sf movie” because it makes you reconsider many genre tropes we have come to accept. Like:Aliens always want something from us. It’s not always about us—sometimes we’re just a coincidence.We always win. Aliens can traverse the cosmos yet we always figure out a way to beat them. This time, the aliens are smarter than we are.But the most intelligent thing about the movie is how it turns movie conventions (okay, clichés) on their heads to make a story that makes sense. There are enough explosions and flying body parts (human and alien) to satisfy our fix for such, but nothing, even the gross out parts, is gratuitous and the two biggest surprises are the “hero” and the aliens. You’ll end up rooting for the aliens early on and Wilkus does not undergo the usual “hero conversion;” in fact, he does not really change at all. He’s mostly decent, not a big picture kinda guy, just someone who wants his life back—and in that pursuit he sometimes makes decisions that just make things worse.The CGI work is seamless, the story moves quickly, and there are enough complications (I won’t call them “loose ends”) to suggest a very enjoyable sequel is possible. We can only hope the inevitable bigger budget won’t also mean a dumber script.This movie is sooooo good (How good is it?) until if you’ve already seen Transformers 2 or G.I. Joe, you’ll ask for the manager and demand your money back. Then you’ll take it and buy another ticket for District 9.
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