District 9 (2009)

District 9 is a sci-fi thriller set in Johannesburg in South Africa. It explores themes such as segregation and xenophobia in the modern world, but rather than looking at how humans deal with different races, it looks at how humans react to an entirely different species coming to Earth. When a mothership appears above the city out of nowhere, millions of aliens come down to Earth and are placed into a concentration camp style shanty town called District 9. Two decades later the rioting against homing the aliens have come to a head, and the government employ the relatively normal family man Wikus van de Merwe as the leader of a mission to get the aliens out of District 9. But when Wikus comes across alien weaponry and substances, his life takes a complete turn as he has to deal with the consequences of what he discovers. The film is gripping from start to finish with the second half being much more action packed than the first, but this isn't to say that the build up isn't exciting in itself. The film incorporates black comedy and emotional moments to reach out to audiences and help them understand how it would feel to be in Wikus' situation. I personally found all of the guns and explosions to be a little overdone, but nonetheless the storyline is entertaining for anybody and the acting is believable and accessible, whether you like a lot of action or not.