Directed by visual effects virtuoso Neill Blomkamp, District 9 is a sci-fi movie that doesn’t make concessions in order to appeal to younger audiences, creating a gritty, violent and disturbing vision of a world in which visiting aliens have become second class citizens. But do the underlying politics sit comfortably next to the visceral destruction?

Set in South Africa two decades after the arrival of an Alien mother ship, the animalistic worker drones of the alien race have been persecuted by human residents and forced to live in a slum called District 9. We join the action on the eve of a mass eviction of the Aliens from within the suburbs of Johannesburg, following a desk jockey named Wikus Van De Merwe who has been tasked with getting signatures from each alien shack in order to ensure the legality of the enforced exodus. Whilst checking out a criminal alien’s hut he discovers a canister of liquid which squirts in his face, and so begins the modern metamorphosis of man into extra terrestrial. A shady corporation wants his transmuting form in order to access the power of the alien weaponry which was until now inoperable by human hands, but all Wikus wants is to get cured and get back to his wife.

Whilst the plot isn’t driven by particularly original twists, the exposition is handled well thanks to the blistering mix of fake news footage and documentary style interviews which capture the initial stages of Wikus’ investigation. It’s a great contemporary evocation of the power of 24 hour news coverage and complete media saturation, something that Natural Born Killers parodied over a decade ago. Since NBK and The Blair Witch Project popularised the use of hand held cameras/fake news coverage many other films have tried and failed to use the techniques effectively (Cloverfield and Diary of the Dead being two particularly broken examples). But District 9 doesn’t set any strict rules on their use, mixing the mockumentary style with subtler, traditional methods of film making without detracting from the involving effect. A definite bonus and tick one in the pros column.

What District 9 does better than any other film released this summer is special effects. Big budget action films with a heavy reliance on CGI, like Transformers or G.I. Joe, almost always have a moment or two which look fake and spoil the visual impact of the film. District 9 presents perhaps the first example of flawless CGI in a movie. The aliens look organic and the CGI is woven in seamlessly with the latex and makeup effects that get used elsewhere. Often the CGI looks like really good animatronics, which is a welcome step towards photorealism, though there’re also plenty of rubbery prosthetics and buckets of fake blood on show. Since Blomkamp is a protégé of Peter Jackson it’s not surprising to see that some of his benefactor’s love for bloody violence has seeped into District 9. Peeling skin, exploding heads and blood-spattered camera lenses all evoke Brain Dead, and District 9 isn’t for the faint hearted or the weak stomached. There’s also tons of coarse language, but it never feels excessive because a lack of it would feel less realistic.

Where the whole thing sags a bit is in the underlying political agenda which District 9 initially hints at. There’s the superlative power of the corporation which controls District 9, the anti-extraterrestrialism which unsubtly echoes real life racial conflicts in South Africa, and the human compulsion for documenting every single event, no matter how horrific, in place of taking responsibility. However, many of these important themes are lost after the first act, and it turns into a full on action picture with little more to say on the topics it explicitly introduces at the start. It just feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity.

Overall District 9 is definitely one of the best films out at the moment. It has violence, powerful performances and tons of explosions, as well as whiffing slightly of political protest. Though what it’s trying to say is lost in a shower of limbs and guts of indeterminate origin.