District 9 video trailer

District 9 plot

The following content describes the plot for the movie.

In 1982, a large alien mothership stops directly above Johannesburg in South Africa. An investigation team enters the ship, discovering a population of sick and malnourished extraterrestrials. The aliens, referred to derogatorily as “prawns”, are confined to District 9, a government camp just outside Johannesburg. Periodic unrest then occurs between the aliens and the locals in District 9. Subsequently, the South African government hires private military company Multinational United (MNU) to relocate the aliens to a new internment camp.

In the present, Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley), an Afrikaner bureaucrat, is appointed by Piet Smit (Louis Minnaar), an MNU executive and his father-in-law, to lead the camp relocation by serving the aliens with eviction notices. Meanwhile, three aliens — Christopher Johnson (Jason Cope), his son, and a friend — search for alien technology among the trash heaps, from which they distill a fluid, storing it in a small canister. While raiding the shack of Christopher’s friend, Wikus discovers and seizes the canister, but accidentally sprays some of the fluid onto his face. Christopher’s friend is subsequently killed by Koobus Venter (David James), a xenophobic soldier leading the military side of the operation.

The fluid slowly begins mutating Wikus into an alien, beginning with his left arm. MNU then holds Wikus captive, using him to test various alien weapons which only function when alien DNA is present. The scientists then decide to vivisect Wikus, but he overpowers them and escapes. Smit orders Venter and his men to hunt Wikus down, while a cover-up story stating that Wikus is a wanted fugitive infected with an alien STD is released, which Smit repeats to his daughter.

Wikus finds refuge in District 9 and stumbles into Christopher’s shack. A lost command module from the mothership is revealed underneath the shack. Christopher discloses that the fluid in the canister is fuel which would allow him to reactivate the command module and in turn, the dormant mothership, where from he can reverse Wikus’ mutation. The canister is held at MNU headquarters, so Wikus and Christopher agree on a plan to get it back by first obtaining weapons from superstitious Nigerian arms-dealer Obesandjo (Eugene Khumbanyiwa) and his gang.

After acquiring the weapons, Wikus and Christopher attack the MNU offices, retrieve the canister, and flee back to District 9 with MNU forces in pursuit. Appalled by the illegal experiments on his fellow aliens at MNU headquarters, Christopher says he must use all the fuel to get help before curing Wikus, but the trip to his home planet and back will take three years. Wikus becomes enraged and attacks Christopher, then hijacks the command module which is almost immediately shot down by Venter and his men. They seize Wikus and Christopher, but Obesandjo’s gang ambushes the MNU convoy and captures Wikus, as Obesandjo believes that eating Wikus’ mutated arm will give him the ability to use alien weaponry. Obesandjo’s base is then surrounded by MNU and a firefight ensues.

In the downed command module, Christopher’s son remotely activates the mothership and an alien mechanized battle suit which saves Wikus by killing Obesandjo and his men. Wikus takes control of the battle suit and rescues Christopher, shielding him as they run to the command module. Wikus aids Christopher’s escape by staying behind and holding off the MNU troops. Christopher promises to return in three years with a cure for Wikus before making his way to the command module, which is then lifted into the mothership. Wikus kills all the troops before Venter cripples his suit and forces it to eject him. As Wikus is cornered, a group of aliens ambush Venter, tearing him to pieces. Christopher leaves in the mothership with his son as Johannesburg’s residents celebrate its departure.

A series of interviews and news broadcasts are shown, with people theorizing about Wikus’ whereabouts and the potential return of Christopher and the mothership, and what it could entail. MNU’s illegal experiments on the aliens are exposed. District 9 is completely demolished, with all the aliens having been moved to the new larger District 10 farther from the city. Wikus’ wife Tania finds a metal flower on her doorstep, giving her hope that Wikus is still alive. The final scene shows what appears to be a fully transformed Wikus crafting a similar flower in a scrapyard.
Source: Wikipedia

Our verdict: A gritty sci-fi story based on an idea that is quite scary, but thankfully highly unlikely

Related items: District 9 on DVD and Blu-ray available to order/pre-order from AMAZON.

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