District 9 Movie Reviews

Disturbing and darkly atmospheric, District 9 marks one of the most accomplished recent directorial debuts. A consummate match of filmmaker and material, the trenchant sci-fi allegory grabs the viewer from the outset, not letting go until the end credits roll. South African born Canadian effects wizard Neill Blomkamp helms an original story developed from his own 2005 short film, Alive in Jo’burg. A giant spaceship has been hovering over Johannesburg for over 20 years.

The best sci-fi thriller you've seen in years, District 9 takes such mega-budget crap as Transformers 2 and GI Joe and rubs their faces in mud. Helmed by South African-born writer-director Neill Blomkamp and produced by Peter Jackson, this is edge-of-the-seat entertainment with a sociopolitical message - a cerebral blockbuster if you like. Now here's the film's plot: In the 1980s, an enormous spaceship suddenly stopped over Johannesburg city

If someone had told me that I would be most impressed this year by a film made by a South African first-timer funded by a Kiwi eccentric genius (Peter Jackson) I would have expressed some skepticism. Discovering gems like District 9 make the pain of watching other cinematic garbage a little more bearable. Beginning with the grinning visage of one Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley) District 9 tells the fascinatingly believable tale of a world in which the aliens have already landed

Words of caution before you step in to watch District 9 DO NOT miss the start. Opening with a bang, we see the office of Multi-National United (MNU), a setup that deals with aliens who have made the town of Johannesburg their home for two decades. Called 'prawns', these creatures descended from a mother ship hovering in the middle of the city's towering skyline. Field operative Wikus Van Der Merwe (Copley) who works for the agency

There has been the occasional ET, but other than that, you can't be faulted for hating extra-terrestrials (whether they show up or not). After all, they are here to "take over earth"; aren't they? District 9 comes up with a novel premise. And if one may allow, turns the sci-fi alien genre theme completely on its head (to emphasise my point, one would not have to go back further than the weeks-old Transformers 2).

Grim and nerve-jangling, this one's for every hardcore sci-fi fan. When a spaceship lands in Johannesburg (probably because director Neill Blomkamp is a South African), humans need to evict the aliens because living space is scarce. So eager hero Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley), who works at Multi-National United (MNU), is sent with troops to politely ask the aliens to leave. Incidentally, MNU also happens to be the second largest weapon manufacturer in the world