District 9

District 9 actually reminded me a lot of recent comic books, or even seinen anime. When it opens, the sci-fi concept may have a few rolling their eyes. In an extended exposition section full of pastiches of documentary and news reporting styles, we learn an alien spacecraft hovers over Jo’burg, South Africa. It is full of malnourished, dying aliens who have no way of getting home after their command module fell to earth. They are moved down to the surface and over twenty years, their containment facility becomes a slum, with all the problems of a ghetto. It’s all a bit of an obvious allegory for Apartheid and general racial tolerance. But then this simple idea is built upon with a very human story about a rather detestable human being put into the position of a fugitive and then a hero, and it is done with such seriousness and focus on character that it becomes compelling, and by the time it becomes a rather awesome action film, it’s pure entertainment and extremely satisfying in its final scenes and open questions.