Obviously, I know I don't have many (possibly any) followers that my view matters to right now, but if you are out there taking in what I say, let me know. This post is going to be a lot longer than my previous posts, and it's also going to be more serious, so bear with me.

District 9, possibly the Film of the Year for 2009, directed by Neill Blomkamp (you may or may not know him as the director of the live-action Halo 3 shorts), and produced by Peter Jackson, director of the very successful Lord of the Rings trilogy, is, in my honest opinion, the best film I've seen since the Boondock Saints. Now, many of you may argue that there have been better movies between these two, but I'm working off the top of my head, so sorry to all of you. Now, my reason for such a high opinion of this movie is simple, the concept and the execution.

Think about this for a second if you will: District 9 is a film about aliens (Hollywood's classic seeds of destruction) whose spacecraft somehow ends up hovering above Johannesburg, South Africa, and, rather than attacking or even introducing themselves, they just sit there an wait until the humans force the first contact. Not only that, but the aliens themselves are far from the barbaric or almighty races of many past films, but rather more human than anything. They get drunk, they live in shacks, they even find an addiction to cat food (which I found to be a nice source of comedic relief). Furthermore, they're not even the bad guys. The humans, the intolerant, paranoid humans are the villains. How's that for reversal?

Now, I'm guessing you're thinking "I've heard all this before, tell me something new". Okay, I will. This film has to be the best executed project in years. Whether you look at the acting, the writing, the cinematography, or even the editing, you see a great film. To narrow it down, let's look at the main character, a nerdy-looking "field agent" for Multi National United (or MNU), a fictional corporation that serves as a beacon of bad ethics and questionable morals throughout the entire film. Now, played by any of Hollywood's many leading men, this guy would look like a total jerk. Let's face it, the only character who can be so blindly prejudiced against these aliens and then realistically turn right around and do what Wikus does is the character we see before us in District 9. I doubt we could see such a character from Gerald Butler, Hugh Jackman, or even Christian Bale, despite his amazing work in The Machinist, without completely despising him by the end of the film.

Overall, I think it was definitely a worthy replacement for Halo: The Movie (who knows, maybe we'll still see that someday). I definitely wouldn't mind seeing more from this universe of Blomkamp's, and there are definitely questions that are left blatantly unanswered. I look forward to seeing more from Sharlto Copley, and I especially look forward to my next review: Ponyo, which I just saw today and still need some time to chew on it.