District 9 (2009)

The more I think about this movie, the more I liked it. It was ambitious, inventive and a great action thriller that felt real. I loved the shaky-cam, documentary look of the movie and it helped add depth to the roles.

Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is a mid-level office drone for MNU, a large corporation that is solely in charge of keeping track of and housing the aliens. Aliens, you ask? In 1982, a large spaceship broke down and came to a stop over Johannesburg, South Africa. The aliens mean no harm, their ship just malfunctioned and halted. Some 20 years later, the ship remains and the aliens on board have amassed to over 1.5 million. MNU was hired by the government to keep them out of the public and relegated to a slum village. As one character puts it, "Where there's slums, there's crime." Due to rising public fears, the government makes MNU evict the aliens and move them to a nicer-looking, but smaller village. Wikus has been put in charge. While delivering the notices to some aliens, he comes in contact with a strange liquid substance. Over the rest of the day, he becomes sick and it progressively gets worse. Turns out, the fluid is taking over Wikus' DNA and transforming him into an alien. Now, he's public enemy #1 and on the run for his life, whatever he has left of it.

The physical and emotional transformation Copley portrays and Wikus undergoes is remarkable to watch. You really hate him when he's a jerk to the aliens, then empathize with him when his life is turned upside down. The director makes you feel like this is a current ongoing thing in South Africa, despite its obviously fiction. I recommend this movie to anyone looking for a good time.