Its very rare when I take the time to sit down and write a well thought out review for a movie. I started my vacation 3 days ago and that makes it even more unlikely that I'll go out of my own way to write an extensive review. However, every now and then a movie comes along that has such an effect on me that I feel a full review is obligatory. I had almost completely given up on this bullshit of a movie season that we call summer. "Wolverine" was just pure crap, "Terminator" fell flat, "Harry Potter" was disappointment, and when the infamous misogynistic, racist, lets-blow-shit-up Michael Bay film known as "Transformers 2" came out, I almost completely lost faith in film altogether. Fuck, was I seething at the end of that horseshit excuse of a movie. Luckily, all it takes is the minds of Peter Jackson and rookie director Neil Blomkamp to completely renew my love for movies. This movie is "District 9".

I'm going to explain the plot of this film but I have to keep to a bare minimum, because the best way to experience this movie is with an empty slate. So the premise is that an alien spaceship landed over South Africa 20 years ago. Naturally, people freaked out, expecting some kind of epic invasion where people get anhilated. Nope. Didn't happen. Instead the aliens had to stay on Earth as refugees in the slum called District 9. Even more unfortunate for the aliens, the government organization called MNU has decided to relocate the aliens due to tensions between them and the locals and more importantly, to figure out how to utilize their weapons.

This movie is nothing less than great. There is something here for everyone. The action is awesome, there's black humor, and what really grabs me about this film is the in-your-face social commentary that it presents. I remember the first time I saw "Schindlers List" and just how depressing it was to watch these Jews get massacred, but hey, this is about aliens. It can't be serious with giant bug creatures from space right? Wrong! This can be described as another genocide going on with these aliens. There were multiple times when I was watching this movie saying, "Oh that's fucked up." I don't want to go into detail about the several scenes like that in the film, but Blomkamp does an excellent job at presenting his social statement with a mix of humor but letting the audience reflect on how truly violent we are as a species.

Speaking of violence, I think I should stress the movies R-rating, because its a hard R. The movie is goooooooory. But not in a way where you're going to get grossed out, more like a way where you'll go "hahaha, look at how that guy splattered all over the place". It wasn't gore focused however. The only thing you'll be paying most of your attention to is the well-filmed action. What amazes me is that they were able to have quality special effects and action sequences with only a budget of $30 million. That's just pennies in a hollywood movies. This is not a backlash on the movie at all. It doesn't feel like a cheap movie. Everything just feels authentic. From the slums of District 9 to the cgi characters themselves, Blomkamp really made me believe in this world.

There's much more I could say about this film but as I stated earlier, the best way to experience District 9 is with a clean slate. District 9 is easily the best movie of the year and one of my favorite science fiction movies, period. I would rank this movie up there with "Alien" and "Star Wars". Its a movie that going to get everyone talking and it will be looked back upon in the same way we do with the other classics I mentioned. I can't wait to see it again.



Side Note: Let me just make it clear, there will most definately be a sequel. Don't worry though, if you see the film and think about the ending, you're going to realize that its not going to be a typical sequel where its just pulled out of there ass and made up as they went along *cough* Transformers 2 *cough*. This sequel is going to be well thought out, and Blomkamp is going to make more and different political statements without getting repetive with his concepts. Bring on District 10!!!!!!!