District 9

The surprising sci-fi scenario in District 9 follows government agent and everyman Wikus Van De Merwe (Copley).  In a near future Earth, an alien race known to the oppressing humans as "Prawn" live under the firm, despotic hand of human-kind's international alliance.  Merwe must serve evictions in the slums of District 9, the sprawling plot of land in Johannesburg, South Africa the world's governments have set aside, guarded, and violently regulated to keep the alien race from leaving before humans have harnessed their far advanced weapons technologies.  Gathering signatures from the frightened, sometimes hostile, and mistreated aliens of the district to begin a mass move to a new, far worse camp, Merwe is exposed to a mysterious biotechnology not of this world.  What follows is a barrage of the unexpected, sending Merwe into a torrent of chases, fire fights, unexpected alliances, and heart breaking new points of view from each side of the human-alien relationship Merwe himself stood for over the twenty-plus years since the aliens mistakenly came to Earth.

See District 9 without expectations as it may shatter any you have formed.  The successfully vibrant and socially telling story works on more levels than a sci-fi/action film has been pressed to in years and has garnered a rightfully positive response.  Little known writer/director Neill Blomkamp has shown that he is capable of touching and novel takes on age-old premises.