A combination of reality style tv and sci-fi action, District 9 is a well-realized, heady story of oppression and greed...with aliens. Set in South Africa, we follow an agent of a corporate weapons manufacturer as he takes the viewer on a "tour" of District 9, an area set up to contain over a million aliens, seemingly stranded on earth for the last 20 years. After a surprise discovery in one of the alien's (nicknamed "Prawns" for their appearance) abodes, things take a drastic shift, as profound secrets are revealed and the rest of the film becomes an exciting action/thriller.

There are several fascinating things going on in this film. One, is the portrayal of District 9 itself; essentially a concentration camp where the aliens are treated as the lowest form of life, not unlike the homeless, left to fashion their homes out of trash, and to fight for their own food. Another is the visual aspect of the movie, which has very convincing special effects despite being filmed on a modest budget. Lastly, there's the storytelling, full of interesting surprises, especially in how it humanizes, and ultimately makes you care about, the ugly and strange aliens that populate District 9.

Despite my praise for this film, this is in no way the slam dunk "pop-sci-fi" that Star Trek was, and will probably not appeal to the average movie-goer. The gore alone may turn some people off (though it was one my favorite aspects!). If you're into taking a chance on something different, give this one a try. There's not much out there to compare it to, and that alone can be rewarding. (8/21/2009)

Not your typical alien encounter type of movie. It’s shot more like a documentary and takes a look at what it would be like if we tried to integrate aliens into our society, at least somewhat. I found this approach to be quite entertaining and just when you start to think it’s dragging on, it switches from the documentary style to more of a good alien action type of movie. (9/12/2009)

What shines most about District 9 is how different genres are seamlessly combined. What starts out as a documentary and behind the scenes type film evolves (or "devolves" based on your point of view) into a shoot em up action flick. Regardless, I had a great deal of fun watching the last half of this movie, which I saw months after watching only the first half in the theater (shaky camera work made my wife sick to her stomach so we left 45 minutes in). Produced on a "shoestring" budget, District 9 features very realistic and shocking special effects. My mouth dropped nearly every time one of the prawn guns was fired. While D9 isn't the superb film that many genre fans make it out to be, I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to more work from director Neill Blomkamp. (2/4/2010)