District 9

So we went to the movies on Saturday. Since we had seen a little kid movie last weekend then I told the older kids I would take them to see a scary movie this weekend. They wanted to see District 9. From the previews it didn't look that bad so I bought the tickets.

The previews showed before the movie were all scary and things that I definitely would not want to go see. 'The Final Destination' ('Final Destination: Death Trip 3D') (2009) Why would you want to see a lot of teenagers stupidly trying to avoid death IN 3D, it's just to much. 'Saw VI' (2009) After the first 1 you've pretty much seen them all. I guess the first thing I should have told you was that I'm not a scary movie watcher. I'm a screamer, and a jumper, 2 things not good in movie theaters. Even at home it can be dangerous. My kids love to watch scary movies then trick me into watching certain parts as I pass through just so they can see me scream and jump. They think it's hilarious.

And Now Back To The Movie.....
So the movie starts and it begins with interviews of people with English accents. They are talking about a space ship that landed. Taking an obvious metaphor for apartheid as a mere jumping-off point, District 9 is set in Blomkamp's hometown of Johannesburg, South Africa, where 20 years earlier a spaceship appeared above the city and mysteriously stopped. Humans "rescued" the starving alien creatures inside it and rounded them up in an area called District 9, which quickly morphed into a slum where Nigerian gangsters prey off the aliens, given the derogatory but accurate nickname "prawns."

The time has finally come for the government agency/weapons manufacturer MNU to relocate District 9 further from the city, and put in charge of the operation is bureaucratic dweeb Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley), a guy who married the boss's daughter and has spent the rest of his life happily pushing pencils in a larger-than-average cubicle. As he serves eviction notices to the prawns who live in the assorted shacks, Wikus takes delight in firebombing alien eggs and wielding his authority like a particularly obnoxious weapon. With lots of alien weapons that only work with Alien DNA. But when he comes afoul of a mysterious substance cooked up by an alien named, for some reason, Christopher Johnson, Wikus almost immediately begins a transformation into the world's first human-alien hybrid. After the government initially tries to slice him up for research and weapons development, Wikus escapes and takes refuge in the only hiding place he has left: District 9.

Not only do the "Aliens" look and act like cockroaches, but they talk by clicking. Somehow humans have learned their language and they have learned some English. The part that I didn't get the most was how do alien beings from another planet build a ginormous space ship and travel across space if they are dumber than humans?

This was definitely a guy movie. If I hadn't gotten the tickets for free I would have definitely wanted my money back.