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Movies / Upcoming / District 9
District 9

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District 9 (2009)

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Reviews Counted:238

Fresh:215

Rotten:23

Average Rating:7.8/10

Consensus: Technically brilliant and emotionally wrenching, District 9 has action, imagination, and all the elements of a thoroughly entertaining science-fiction classic.

Australian Rating: TBC

Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Australian Theatrical Release:
Aug 13, 2009 Wide

US Box Office: $115,646,235

Synopsis: Director Neill Blomkamp teams with producer Peter Jackson for this tale of extraterrestrial refugees stuck in contemporary South Africa. It's been 28 years since the aliens made first contact, but... Director Neill Blomkamp teams with producer Peter Jackson for this tale of extraterrestrial refugees stuck in contemporary South Africa. It's been 28 years since the aliens made first contact, but there was never any attack from the skies, nor any profound technological revelation capable of advancing our society. Instead, the aliens were treated as refugees. They were the last of their kind, and in order to accommodate them, the government of South Africa set up a makeshift home in District 9 as politicians and world leaders debated how to handle the situation. As the humans begin to grow wary of the unwelcome intruders, a private company called Multi-National United (MNU) is assigned the task of controlling the aliens. But MNU is less interested in the aliens' welfare than attempting to understand how their weaponry works. Should they manage to make that breakthrough, they will receive tremendous profits to fund their research. Unfortunately, the highly advanced weaponry requires alien DNA in order to be activated. When MNU field operative Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is exposed to biotechnology that causes his DNA to mutate, the tensions between the aliens and the humans intensifies. Wikus is the key to unlocking the alien's technology, and he quickly becomes the most wanted man on the planet. Ostracized and isolated, Wikus retreats to District 9 in a desperate bid to shake his dogged pursuers. [More]

Starring: Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, David James, Mandla Gaduka

Starring: Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, David James, Mandla Gaduka, William Allen Young, Vanessa Haywood, Kenneth Nkosi, Devlin Brown

Director: Neill Blomkamp

Director: Neill Blomkamp
Screenwriter: Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
Producer: Peter Jackson, Carolynne Cunningham
Composer: Clinton Shorter
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment

[See More Credits]

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Reviews for District 9

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Copley's wild-eyed performance as the luckless Wikus has a lot going for it. The fact that he's so ridiculous -- and so dogged -- adds to the pathos, for it's patently clear Blomkamp has no taste for easy endings.

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment 1 Comment
08/21/09
Sandra Hall
Sandra Hall
Sydney Morning Herald
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's a fascinating hybrid of a film, an anti-Hollywood movie which incorporates a great deal of contemporary big-budget elements ... but with a tart, subversive sense of humour that leavens the violence and mayhem.

Full Review Source: The Australian | comment 4 Comments
08/21/09
David Stratton
David Stratton
The Australian
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

As an action director, Blomkamp is no John Carpenter. Parts of the story are not dramatised but narrated direct-to-camera by supposed interview subjects -- a lazy device that reduces immediacy and momentum.

Full Review Source: The Age (Australia) | comment 25 Comments
08/14/09
Jake Wilson
Jake Wilson
The Age (Australia)
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

An engaging sci-fi parable rooted in both universal themes and a specific setting that often takes you by surprise with both its smarts and intensity

Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
08/13/09
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons
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It’s always exhilarating seeing something refreshingly new on screen, and even though we’ve seen horror before, and aliens before, and the dirty deeds of capitalism before, it’s never been quite like this.

Full Review Source: At the Movies (Australia) | comment 19 Comments
08/12/09
Margaret Pomeranz
Margaret Pomeranz
At the Movies (Australia)
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The world Blomkamp has created in this original creature feature is at once familiar and distinctive.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph (Australia) | comment Comment
08/12/09
Vicky Roach
Vicky Roach
Daily Telegraph (Australia)
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Neill Blomkamp's career-making debut film District 9 mixes alien contact with apartheid politics, deftly creating one of the best sci-fi films in recent memory.

Full Review Source: Time Out Sydney | comment 1 Comment
08/12/09
Jonathon Valenzuela
Jonathon Valenzuela
Time Out Sydney
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

District 9 is a brave, intelligent and exciting film. Some of its story beats fall into the "unlikely" category, but the central idea, the design, and the acting are so strong that you'll likely go with it and have a damn good time doing so.

Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia) | comment Comment
08/12/09
Anthony O'Connor
Anthony O'Connor
FILMINK (Australia)
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Completely absorbing and intense. As audiences are compelled early in the film to "learn from what has happened", Blomkamp uses District 9 to quietly remind us that it's too late for some.

Full Review Source: IGN Movies AU | comment 4 Comments
08/10/09
Patrick Kolan
Patrick Kolan
IGN Movies AU
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Technically superb, District 9 is a feast of seamless digital work fused to live action, as it is also a smart fusion of documentary format with narrative fiction.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
08/10/09
Andrew L. Urban
Andrew L. Urban
Urban Cinefile
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While Blomkamp's disturbing thriller does have a semi-revelatory ending, the real secret is that District 9, for all its pomp and circumstance, is no more than a decent but scrappy science fiction flick.

Full Review Source: Bangitout.com | comment 2 Comments
01/06/10
Jordan Hiller
Jordan Hiller
Bangitout.com

The disconnect between the first and second half of the movie shows you how great District 9 could have been, if Jackson and his financial backers had allowed it, instead of what it is, exciting, but with nothing lingering in the mind after it was over.

Full Review Source: Examiner.com | comment Comment
12/25/09
Adam Lippe
Adam Lippe
Examiner.com

Science fiction as it was meant to be: intelligent and challenging.

Full Review Source: Oscar Guy | comment 4 Comments
12/12/09
Wesley Lovell
Wesley Lovell
Oscar Guy

full review at Movies for the Masses

Full Review Source: Movies for the Masses | comment 1 Comment
12/10/09
Joseph Proimakis
Joseph Proimakis
Movies for the Masses

Since the metaphor itself is pretty clear, Blomkamp goes for the visceral quality of the images and situations.

Full Review Source: Window to the Movies | comment Comment
12/07/09
Jeffrey Chen
Jeffrey Chen
Window to the Movies

The film persuades us to look beneath the aliens' chitinous exterior, and slowly eats at us as the images of racism, subjugation and internment become familiar and prod our conscience.

Full Review Source: Cinemalogue.com | comment Comment
12/06/09
Rubin Safaya
Rubin Safaya
Cinemalogue.com

"One of the most intelligent science fiction entries in the last ten years..."

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment 4 Comments
12/06/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed

Un entretenido ejercicio de ciencia ficción que es también toda una alegoría sobre la condición racista y discriminadora del hombre.

Full Review Source: Uruguay Total | comment Comment
10/18/09
Enrique Buchichio
Enrique Buchichio
Uruguay Total

Um presente inesperado para todos os fãs de uma boa e inteligente ficção-científica.

Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena | comment Comment
10/16/09
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena

Le film de Neill Blomkamp brille de par son audace et la pertinence de son propos.

Full Review Source: Panorama | comment Comment
10/12/09
Jean-François Vandeuren
Jean-François Vandeuren
Panorama
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 >> >|
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Latest News for District 9

December 31, 2009: RT on DVD: District 9, Ponyo, Young Victoria
More...

December 21, 2009: RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: District 9 and (500) Days of Summer
One would think that the week of Christmas would bring with it a plethora of new releases in home video, but such is unfortunately not quite the case. Though there are a... More...

December 07, 2009: Help Us Choose the Community Golden Tomato Award
If you're a regular RT reader, then you're probably familiar with our end-of-year Golden Tomato Awards. The long and short of it is that we compile a list of the films released... More...

October 23, 2009: Blomkamp Gets to Work on District 9 Follow-Up Opens in new window
Few details are known about the project, but director Neill Blomkamp has signed a deal that will give him creative control over his untitled follow-up to "District 9." More...

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