District 9 is a fascinating film, not just because of the way it was made but also because it takes a realistic approach. It also tries to break away from that tried, tested and tired stereotype that aliens MUST land in America (you do known America is the centre of the world, right?) and that their arrival will some how change us as a species for the better. Not District 9, oh no. The premise of the film is that a huge alien ship appeared above Johannesburg and inside are insectoid refugees slowly starving to death. Given asylum by the government, the million alien survivors are soon removed from the general population and shoved into a fenced-off slum called District 9.

Filmed in a riveting mock-umentary style, District 9 follows the unlikable Wikus van de Merwe, an employee with MNU, the private corperation which polices District 9 and attempts to figure out how to use the aliens’ technology, which seems tied to their genome and is unusable by humans. At the start of the film, the aliens numbers – despite needing permits to have children – have risen to nearly 1.8 million. District 9 has become a cramped shanty town dominated by human junk and technology so MNU are attempting to move the aliens up the road to the newly completed District 10.

This is where Wikus comes in, he’s essentially there to get the aliens to agree to being evicted from their homes and herded into District 10 with the minimum amount of fuss and death. What first seems a routine, if not dangerous operation, turns nasty when Wilkus is accidentally sprayed by an alien chemical and begins a terrifying transformation into something more than human. His nails begin to come off and he starts vomiting black bile at a party to celebrate a promotion, only to end up in hospital and be abducted by his employer. Suddenly Wilkus stops being a person and becomes a test subject for their weapons programme.

Wilkus himself is not a likeable fellow, at least not in the beginning. He’s rude and crass who kills alien eggs for sport but as the film progresses he doesn’t change physically. A pariah from his own species, he starts to understand the aliens of District 9 and through him so do we. By the end of the film, he’s still an unlikable and unlikely hero but his heart is in the right place. The final showdown is really quite powerful, both emotionally and from an SFX point of view.

District 9 is not exactly your typical sci fi film, mainly because much of the footage is mock news footage or interviews with experts. The computer generated aliens look awesome but the large amount of subtitles (due to the alien language being comprised mostly of clicks) might put some off. Part of the mystery of the film though is the lack of information about the aliens themselves or where they come from. That said their reaction to cat food (their catnip) is rather amusing but oddly plausible.

As expected from Blu Ray, the film looks amazing in HD, especially when paired with the director’s commentary. The extras aren’t exactly packing the disc but there’s plenty there to expand the film. I especially like the interactive map of Joberg and the documentary focusing on Wilkus’ metamorphosis from human to alien.

District 9 is released today on DVD and Blu Ray.