District 9 Movie Review

This weekend I saw the movie District 9. It's a science fiction flick about a colony of aliens who get stranded on Earth. There has been a lot of hype about this movie's underlying theme of prejudice, but that just makes it more realistic. Who wouldn't be a little upset if they had to live next to someone who looked like a giant shell fish. The first third of the movie is done documentary style to explain how the aliens ended up in South Africa in a giant slum. But, its almost to the point where you think the whole darn movie is going to be a fake documentary. Luckily, things get a little better in the second half.

The aliens look very realistic and the special effects are integrated with the typical precision we have come to expect from a movie produced by Peter Jackson. The end battle between the main character and the military thugs in charge of District 9 will have you looking for the replay button. The action scenes pay homage to recent movies like Iron Man and Transformers. Beyond that, the movie has a few too many things that don't make sense. Like why the alien ship, apparently out of power, was able to hover in the sky. Or, why the aliens didn't use their own weapons to fight against the repressive conditions that they are forced to live in. I'm sure a lot of this will be cleared up in three years. That's when the alien ship will return to get the rest of the colony. Or, as we call it here on Earth, the sequel.