Sometimes I think that the guys making the trailers in Hollywood are the least talented bunch of morons you could come across. District 9 is an intelligent and moving, yet playful take on the issue of refugees in South Africa (or anywhere else on that matter) and far from being a simple, shock-treatment monster movie. In fact, and this might sound cheesy, the true monsters are the humans, eh ?

The film has an interesting structure and plays out in several acts all of which have different levels of humour, insanity and earnestness about them. The lead character is portrayed by a great actor and makes the film work as he is the axis of human fate that gets tangled up in the ongoings in District 9.

The CGI and effects are pretty interesting for a low-budget film, but I wish there would have been less action scenes towards the end of the film as I do not think they added anything to the feature (they rarely do, do they?), but in this case, there were just placeholders for the real story that was set on pause for that time being.

All in all, a very unusual take on the ‘Alien’ genre and more of a fable and metaphorical tale than anything else. It is refreshing to see a film based in Johannesburg, the backdrop, the actors, the language, the scenery, the political implications all render this much more substantial than your average based in LA or New York kind of dope.

Nice one !
HX