District 9

Starring Sharlto Copley

Finally my long summer of unoriginality has come to an end and with exquisite results to boot. District 9 for those that aren't aware (all 2 of you) is about an alien ship that has broken down and become stranded hovering over South Africa and for 20 years now. The aliens that were found inside have been kept in a slum like set up while the government tries to figure out how to deal with their expanding numbers as well as attempting to figure out how to duplicate and manipulate their weaponry that can only be used by the aliens themselves.
Our main star here named Wikus is a bit of a schmoe and is married to the generals daughter and thru some obvious nepotism has been appointed the leader of a mission to relocate and basically evict the aliens one at a time. Our hapless hero sets out to prove that he is the right man for the job and ends up bumbling his way through the first day of the process to mixed reviews as some humans and aliens wind up dead due to some miscommunications along the way. It only get better from there.
Now onto the techy gushing portion of the review. Thank Jebus that this movie had the testicular fortitude to shoot most of the action in daylight and not try to hide any shoddy production value. This movie was so brazen in that regard that it almost dares you to find the flaws and believe me I tried. All to often in Hollywood we get these sci fi films with aliens in them and the biggest cop out in the world is to shoot all of the alien scenes in the dark. It has nothing to do with the tone or feel of the moment folks, its simply a cheap trick to hide the shitty job they've done. If you've ever scene AVP 2 then I rest my case.
What we have here is an instant classic with a relatively unknown cast and fueled by Peter Jackson's ridiculous bankroll to insure quality is at the forefront. So much of this could have gone wrong but the top notch casting and special effects and riveting story line are enough to catapult this one into the top ten alien movies of all time. That list will come later in the year perhaps.
Easily the best movie of the year.

Rating 4 tins of cat food out of 5


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