District 9

This was an outstanding debut by the New Zealander Blomkamp. Consistently enthralling and keeping one at the edge of his seat. THIS is a recent film, like 'Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World', that should have spawned sequels. Much better than his follow-up, 'Elysium' (I haven't watched any others he's made since; hope he doesn't end up a cinematic one-trick pony like M. Night Shyamalan...).

Kamurai

July 19, 2020

9/10

Great watch, will watch again, and highly recommended. This has a wonderfully exciting premise: alien refugees on Terra, how Terrans react and how the aliens react. The premise, as delivered, has some odd holes in though: it's specified that all of the crew have died, mysteriously, and no one knows how to operate the ship, but it's been in the air for some time. The idea of gravity alone should have motivated Johannesburg to evacuate, but their government interaction seems decidedly weak. …

AstroNoud

January 15, 2022

9/10

A gritty and original story that is as entertaining as thought-provoking, combining xenophobic satire and political allegory with raucous action. 8/10

Filipe Manuel Neto

October 22, 2023

5/10

**For a low-budget film, it's a good effort.** I'm not a big fan of films about aliens, so the film won't be my cup of tea at all. However, that didn't stop me from seeing it, and appreciating what's good about it. Without a colossal budget or a powerful studio, director Neill Blomkamp gives us an intelligent and technically impactful film. In fact, it is in the most technical details that I felt impressed by the film: we have extraordinary cinematography, with magnificent light and colors…

CinemaSerf

June 20, 2025

7/10

The first twenty minutes or so of this is presented as if it were a documentary and with information whizzing about all over the place and tiny onscreen graphics attempting to set the scene, I found it really quite annoying. I was tempted to just give up, but gladly I didn’t because once it gets going it’s really quite good. Perhaps aliens have been watching the telly over the years so this time they have decided to skip the expected military welcome they’ve always received in the USA and gone t…