Tweet

Yahoo Movies has debuted the full theatrical trailer for District 9, the new sci-fi drama from producer Peter Jackson and director Neill Blomkamp. It proves that if you’re someone who thought the first teaser trailer was awesome, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Set in Johanassburg, South Africa, District 9 reveals a world where an extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth suddenly find a kindred spirit in a government agent that is exposed to their biotechnology. It stars Sharlto Copley as the infected agent — seen in the trailer below — who goes into the quarantined area to find some of his own government’s secrets buried there.

As trailers go, this is one of the best I’ve seen this year. Perhaps even better than that final theatrical trailer for Star Trek, with its ability to show off just enough action to get the blood flowing and just enough story so that we know what is going on. The effects we are seeing here are leaps and bounds better than what we saw in Neill Blomkamp’s short film upon which this is based, and that’s saying something as those effects were damn good. I don’t mean to get hyperbolic here — but this could very well be the most surprising, electrifying film of the remainder of 2009. Take that, James Cameron.

District 9 hits theaters on August 14, 2009.