District 9

TriStar Pictures | Release Date: August 14, 2009

8.1	USER SCORE Universal acclaim based on 1535 Ratings

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MikeFAug 14, 2009

Why is this movie getting such good reviews!!??? Are people really this dumb? This isn't a movie, it's a video game premise, and if they'd actually made a game instead of a film, they could possibly be excused for having just Why is this movie getting such good reviews!!??? Are people really this dumb? This isn't a movie, it's a video game premise, and if they'd actually made a game instead of a film, they could possibly be excused for having just about enough plot to fill a dixie cup before moving on to simply blowing things up and splattering gore across the camera. First off, if you didn't get the fact that this movie is a thinly-veiled allegory for South African apartheid simply from the trailers, then you're either brain-dead, in which case please don't reproduce, or you're 10 years old, in which case please ask your parents about apartheid. Or better yet, Google it, because, by the glowing response this film's had so far, NOBODY REMEMBERS WHAT APARTHEID WAS. I've never had a metaphor so ham-handedly pounded over my head for two hours. Yes, I get it. This is man's capacity for evil and hatred and exploitation through ignorance and xenophobia. Please move on, or do something interesting with it. Instead, we get treated to a parade of 1-dimensional characters ("I just love watching you prawns die!") and joyfully pubescent violence porn. However, even the violence causes massive amounts of cognitive dissonance. If the aliens had these weapons all along, why were the humans able to subjugate them? They've got guns that MAKE PEOPLE EXPLODE. You don't even have to aim particularly well. Instead, the aliens decide to trade those weapons for cans of cat food and dig through trash piles so they can nibble on vulcanized rubber. Secondly, once the aliens (trying to avoid spoilers here, don't ask me why) do decide to unleash their weaponry after 20 years of sneering degradation and oppression, they are remarkably reticent about actually using it. Inside my head, I was constantly screaming, "WHY AREN'T YOU KILLING THEM!!?" The characters were that thin; the humans are SO terrible and the aliens are SO innocent and maltreated that there is absolutely no ambivalence about the idea that the aliens should exterminate every human that has anything to do with MNU, the cartoonishly evil corporation responsible for human/alien relations. Which brings up yet another disconnect; once the alien tech is unleashed, why are the human forces so unfazed by it? I understand that, as a soldier, you need to hang in there and keep fighting even when you start taking losses, but after you see one or two of your teammates explode into a bloody mist after getting hit by an electro-bolt, maybe it's time to start waving the white flag. I dunno...I guess I'm out of steam here. Maybe my expectations were too high. There was a lot of potential here; a good twist on a first contact story, and worthy subject matter to serve as a thematic canvas for that story. Unfortunately, Mr. Blomkamp and his cohorts were apparently more interested in playing a game of HALO.… Expand