Compared to "Aliens," I'll refer to this as "the good new days."

To be perfectly honest with you, when I saw the trailer of District 9, I thought to myself, Wow, this looks really terrible. I wouldn't be surprised if you thought District 9 would suck based solely on its trailer. The last good alien movie I saw was Independence Day. Alien vs. Predator was OK and War of the Worlds just flat-out sucked, but the biggest alien movie disappointment I've seen recently has to be, ironically, Alien, a movie released around thirty years ago that everyone claimed to be one of the best movies ever yet the alien was hardly visible. It's safe to say that District 9, despite its rather slow start, is a great sci-fi movie to watch, and it's definitely the best movie I've seen this summer.

District 9 starts off resembling a documentary on the aliens and how they're gargantuan spacecraft managed to mysteriously park itself not over Manhattan or Chicago but Johannesburg. The aliens themselves resemble something between a grasshopper and a Turian creature from the video game Mass Effect. The film doesn't exactly tell you how they ended up on Earth, which is disappointing, considering how almost all sci-fi alien films either explain or show how the aliens appeared in the film. But this isn't like any other typical alien film you've probably seen. No, you see the core concept of this film is completely opposite to that of any other alien movie. Instead of thinking, what are the aliens going to do to us, think, what would we do to the aliens?

The aliens in this film are forced to live in a shantytown called "District 9." Somehow the humans tolerate the aliens having weapons storage in District 9, which is strange, considering they only work if aliens use them. Why the aliens don't just use their weapons, blow the marine security surrounding the area to smithereens and escape from District 9 is never made clear. What's also never made clear is why the marines don't arrest the numerous African people attempting to sell cat food to the aliens, or in other words, "prawns."

Instead of focusing on a possible prawn escape, the plot is primarily about Wikus Van De Merwe. Wikus is one of the head operatives of MNU (Multi-National United) and he's in charge of making prawns sign an agreement to move them to another area. One of the prawns named Christopher Johnson is apparently smarter than the rest and designs a fluid for getting back to the mother ship. While investing the interior of Christopher's friend's house, Wikus accidentally inhales the fluid. Over time he regurgitates black liquid until eventually his hand morphs into that of a prawn's. Since MNU runs some illegal tests on him, Wikus escapes from their custody and flees back into District 9.

In addition to the story, the film features some nice effects towards the very end. Seeing Wikus walking around in a robotic alien suit and blowing guys to bits is pretty satisfying to watch indeed. Some other action scenes, such as a massive shootout between MNU soldiers and Nigerian gangsters, aren't anything we haven't seen before, but nevertheless they're entertaining. Setting the main plot aside, some things in District 9 are just flat-out weird. Why would the head of the Nigerian gang think that eating a prawn's arm would give him more power? And why would he want Wikus's mutated arm when he'd already eaten a prawn's arm?

The only serious flaw in the film is in its beginning. Like I said before, it doesn't bother explaining how the aliens suddenly arrived there twenty years ago, but it's also hard to care about the people in the documentary. In fact, some people actually walked out of the theater within the first thirty minutes of the film. I wouldn't necessarily blame them, either. At first the movie might seem to have cliché written all over it, with characters you won't care about and a plot that isn't very original. But the true beauty of this film is how it alters your vision of Wikus and makes you actually care about him when he, at first glance, will probably seem annoying and stupid.

District 9 does have a very slow and somewhat boring beginning, but if you keep watching, you'll be so surprised at the change of pace that it may seem like you're watching two movies. Hardcore action movie fans will probably be disappointed that the minority of the film is action, but anyone who appreciates science-fiction/alien movies should definitely see this, no questions asked.

Long story short: District 9 is the best movie I've seen all summer. Need I say more?

Grade: A-