District 9

To his credit, however, the often-playful Blomkamp never bludgeons his audience with any specific message. He's too busy letting 'er rip with his edge-of-your-seat, and unapologetically violent, sci-fi adventure.

The humanity of District 9 adds another dimension to this multilayered, rewarding work -- one of the best of the summer, and undoubtedly the most inventive from the multiplex this year.

Blomkamp and his entire cast and crew have created an instant genre classic that transcends the self-limiting ghetto implied by the term "science fiction" and instead, like precursors such as Robert Wise's "The Day the Earth Stood Still," engages not only the mind but the heart as well. It's magnificent.

Anyone who watches District 9 and doesn't think of Apartheid, Nazis, and Josef Mengele needs to spend some time reading a few history books.

A memorable, monstrous fable that's consistently gripping.

There is a lot of shield-your-eyes ickiness in District 9, a lot of violence and gore. What there is not a lot of, however, is humanity - even in the film's depiction of the inhumanity humans are capable of.

It's a bad joke that District 9 will be hailed for its "originality."

The Best Sci-Fi Movie of All Time. Even now in 2022 I still recommend this movie to my friend that haven't watch it.

District 9 kicks off with a bang—fun, gritty, and super inventive, like Starship Troopers meets The Fly. It’s made with love for those influences, almost like a tribute, and that energy shines early on. Sharlto Copley is excellent—awkward, believable, and increasingly unhinged—and Neill Blomkamp’s direction is sharp, especially in the mockumentary-style opening. With some of the production touches, you can feel Peter Jackson’s backing **** somewhere around the halfway mark, it loses its grip. What starts as a clever allegory for apartheid and xenophobia kind of forgets its own message in favour of action and CGI chaos. It ends on a strong note with an unmistakable anti-capitalist sting, but you’re left wishing it had stuck the landing a bit more. Still, it's worth a watch.

Heard lots of great things about this movie but overall I found it overrated. It starts off as a found footage movie about alien contact then turns into a heavy handed comment on segregation. The lead character starts off as a dork, a real joke character, yet by the end he has turned into Rambo. Plot was all over the place and lacked focus.

Overall, kind of a dumb movie. Wasn't exciting.. wasn't compelling. Had good special effects, but all movies do nowadays. I wasn't impressed, but it was unlike any other movie I've seen.

Satire and other allegorical pieces of fiction have a tricky job to do: They must offer commentary on something that we immediately recognize in our world, while creating an interesting enough world for those who are unable to recognize the subject of commentary. It is here where District 9 fails. For despite the powerful images one can associate with apartheid, the absence of the allegory leaves a confused, poorly-plotted, and (let's face it) trite human story. And then it closes itself by shooting everything up.