So a lot of you are probably wondering if District 9 is as good as all of the early hype indicates, and the answer is an absolutely resounding yes.
What is most remarkable about District 9 is the way that producer Peter Jackson (Lord Of the Rings) and director Neill Blomkamp (directing his first feature here) achieved the feat of creating the big blockbuster feel of this movie — the special effects here are absolutely amazing — with a shoestring budget of about $30 million (if reports are to be believed) and a cast of largely unknown actors.
In watching movies about how we as a civilization might react to first contact with an extraterrestrial race — from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind to Contact to Independence Day — I have rarely, if ever, seen a flick that nails it right on the head the way that District 9 does.
The added bonus is the fact that while telling a great story which serves as a rather obvious metaphor for human injustices ranging from the Holocaust to Apartheid, District 9 takes you on the thrill ride of a lifetime — particularly during the latter half of the movie.
First off, let's get a few things out of the way.
District 9 is not a metaphor for Area 51, or any of the other conspiracy theories about official government contact with aliens that have found their way into modern pop culture. If anything, the internment camp for aliens at the center of this film more closely resembles the sort of ghetto slum you might find in any major U.S. city, than it does some sort of super-secret government installation.
The fact that District 9 lies in Johannesburg, South Africa — with its obvious connections to the era of apartheid — is not entirely lost either. But rather than dwell upon that connection, District 9 is a film that instead, once those comparisons are established, soon commences to kicking some serious ass.
The basic story here is that, for reasons which are never established, an alien race parked a gigantic UFO over South Africa two decades ago, and that some one million of its inhabitants (who the locals refer to somewhat disparagingly as "prawns"), have since been quarantined in an area known as District 9.
Article comments
1 - ilovemovies
WAIT A SECOND!!! HAS THE WORLD GONE MAD??? or just lost it's sense of a "good movie"? the acting was crap, the script was complete garbage like something from a scifi channel movie that's on @ 2am and the plot was not good to say the least. Not to mention none of it was believable as in "that is how it would really be if this happened" . bottom line: GREAT IDEA/HORRIBLE EXECUTION. this movie SUCKED!
2 - ilovemovies
By the way, in the event that aliens visit our planet, or anywhere outside their own solar system for that matter, WE would be the "prawns". Us, the primitive humans. District 9 sucked.
3 - larry
are you crazy man district 9 was a good movie it was like the best scifi movie i have ever seen
4 - WhatISagoodmovie?
I am still trying to figure out why this was nominated in the Oscars. I dont go techie while watching movies n scrutinize screenplay, script and cinematography but c'mon! This was a mediocre Sci - Fi with a different approach to the story (depicting racism and the like and for a change shown from the alien's side of sentiment)Tho, if observed closely the movie switches from a documentary style to a regular movie w/o u noticing it - Smooth! but other than that ... lousy aliens (reminds u of the stupid creatures in Mar Attacks - only 2010 edition), kick-ass weapons from the cartoon series - Centurions, and Dexter's Lab mutations! And the part abt getting the fuel back? JEZZ - One guy n one alien bust up a high security building kill all the dummy 'for killing' cops n SWAT and get away with it? 20 years of the alien landing n a single alien n a man can do that? Why didn't they raid? Why did they take over? Its obvious they had better tech n god-awesome guns! And there was a bloody huge flying saucer under their feet n no one noticed it 20 years back when they landed it? ...
It might be a decent sci-fi movie (which means u dont ask too many questions abt aliens, guns and hidden saucers), but an OSCAR nom? THis is nothing more than ET spoof meets Ben 10!
5 - vinny
horrible movie. just horrible.. didn't make any sense