District 9... what can I say?

The kids and I saw District 9 today. We made an earnest yet last-minute attempt on opening night Friday but it was sold out. We went to the first showing today and the place was packed. Obviously this movie is getting some good word-of-mouth.

I will not give any spoilers away in my recap. The movie, based purely off what can be gleaned from the preview, is about an alien population living among us. Their mothership came to a halt over South Africa over 20 years ago. After we initiated first contact they were found to be malnourished and marooned. We setup a shantytown for the population of 1 million alien refugees outside of Johannesburg. Relations between these aliens, nicknamed "prawns", and their human neighbors is like any other situation you would expect when two people living in close proximity believe each other is different - there is violence and tension. Well, we've decided to relocate the prawns to a new tent town called District 10... and that's how the movie starts out.

The movie started much as I had expected. I knew that parts of the movie were shot to be a documentary. This worked very well. I was completely immersed. The main character, I don't remember his name (for good reason... he's not an actor and has never been in ANYTHING... but the way this guy acted... shit, some "actors" out there should just quit now), is a very unlikeable guy who is put in charge of the relocation program. And you immediately don't like him because he's ignorant, a putz, and a simpleton - and these qualities make him naively innocent in an unforgivable manner. So during the initial stage of the relocation, the eviction notice stage... well, the shit goes down. And the shit never stops going down.

Literally, I never had a chance to catch my breath after things started happening. It was brilliant. The story was full of suspense and action (and social commentary... chock full of it). I could continue with sentence after sentence of kissing this movie's ass. I really could. How about this? I could watch that movie ten more times. Today.

I will have to rearrange my favorite sci-fi films now. This movie falls short of knocking down Aliens but I'm pretty sure it has overtaken Blade Runner. This is sci-fi at its best. If you are even a mild fan, go see this movie now. This movie kicks the shit out of any other summer blockbuster I've seen (sorry Moon, you were creepy and awesome but District 9 is better!).