“District 9” is one of the best movies to end the summer. The sci-fi thriller keeps the audience on a stand still, as practically every moment in the film puts you in an eye-capturing, eye-captivating mood.

Based in Neil Blomkamp’s hometown of Johannesburg, South Africa, the fictional film focuses on an alien space ship that suddenly hovers and stalls over the city, sending the public into a frenzy. The government’s weapons and special tactics force, MNU (Multi-National United), places the sick and hungry aliens in an isolated area, called District 9, which becomes the ghetto of the already existing Johannesburg slums. Also known as “prawns” by the Nigerian drug pushers, the aliens are brutalized and tortured. At that time ,MNU relocates the Aliens out of District 9 (away from the hovering spaceship).

Sharlto Copley played Wikus Van De Merwe, a pencil-pusher, corner office kind of guy that’s married to the boss’s daughter. Given a change of scenery, Merwe goes to work thinking he will be able to experience something new and help move the aliens to a new location. It is his last day on the job. Merwe discovers a seemingly harmless new weapon, which ultimately changes his life forever.

This film hits such subjects as racism, government problems, and the lies that governments and the media tell the public. It even incorporates a romantic side in the relationship between Merwe and his wife, challenging how far love will stretch and what people are willing to do for love.

Blomkamp’s versatile direction gives the audiences more to look forward to in potential future projects. Like canned soup, this movie took a while to warm up. Its flavor and contrast from reality and actuality meets us at a point of questioning. The film was the peanut topping to the end of a great and interesting summer.