Product ReviewsDistrict 9 (DVD, 2009)

Scifi fans only!!! Don't look into the movie too much!

OK, listen (to those that hated it) take the stance of a dirty star wars and the science fiction aspect of it and then give your opinion. Although it does have a politically driven msg. but the movie itself doesn't force the issue down your throat. The picture itself is good a mixture of different handheld cameras and digital footage were just enough to keep you interested. It plays like a documentary at first but the action starts to get going sooner rather than later, give it time. Also, try not to watch this movie while eating something if you have a sensitive stomach. A lot of puke and stuff flying off and around the area of things whether its alien or human every other scene seems like this happens towards the end. This is not a bad thing it is graphic and the effects are really good. This a great concept for a scifi movie and if it were shot in any other city like LA or NY with someone like Brad Pitt in the lead I'm positive this would have been a box office smash. Because of the unknown actors and political view the world has about S. African anything, this is sure not to be the movie for everyone.Read full review...

A documentary type movie

An alien craft suddenly arrive above South Africa, once the government gets inside they find a group of aliens who are stranded and their ship is inoperable. The government sets them up in an area they call District 9.

Twenty years later, after the aliens have become a burden on society a group of MNU operatives is sent in to move the aliens to another location. One man become infected with an alien virus and is hunted by the government. The movie is about this mans flight from his own government and the aliens attempt to get out of the slum they have been forced to live in.

The movie is much like a documentary, it is well done and Peter Jackson has once again shown that he is an excellent film maker.

The only draw back is there is not enough action throughout the movie, it is at times too much like a documentary and not enough like a film.

The cast includes: David James, Devlin Brown, Jason Cope, Kenneth Nkosi, William Allen Young

I will not give away any secrets but will say that the movie left open a opportunity for a sequel at the end of this movie and I would not be surprised to see 'District 10' come out sometime in the future.Read full review...

Pure Science Fiction That Will Keep You Guessing!

District 9 takes place in an alternate time-line where, twenty years earlier, an alien spaceship comes to a halt above the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. The inhabitants of the ship are unable to operate the ship for some odd reason, so they wind up being segregated by humans to their own slums within the city below. Eventually, the government calls for the eviction of the aliens from the slums. This is where the story really picks up and gets interesting. The aliens (nicknamed prawns due to their appearance) are quite different from humans and extremely aggressive. The prawns love cat food and have an appetite for raw meat. The film's ostensible protagonist is Wikus (Sharlto Copley), who through a series of events, undergoes some dramatic changes to his body after some biological accident handling some kind of alien container that contains the energy to restart their ship.

The best thing about District 9 is that it always manages to stay fresh and surprising throughout. As the trailers indicate, it starts off as a mock-u-mentary in order to save time introducing us to the story. The film gradually crosses into being a more conventional film presentation, although still filmed with a very documentary look and feel interspersed with occasional news footage or interviews. Despite the unexpected change in presentation, you don't really notice because you become enthralled in the premise that these aliens are being caroused around like cattle, but with a legal twist.

Wikus' character development seems very important to the health of this film. We feel that somehow, this guy is just a bumbling pencil pusher who, because of his marriage to the boss has managed to land himself in charge of the corporation responsible to complete the daunting task of relocating the aliens further away from the city.

Along with many supporting actors, as well as CGI aliens, this film raises the bar in the pure science fiction world. Along with that, Chris, the prawn he befriends (who is surprisingly versatile for a CGI character) creates a really believable story. Even when the film's third act becomes incredibly action-packed, it still doesn't jar with the mood of the film and doesn't forsake its characters and intelligence for the sake of cheap action sequences.

The only important wish I have about the film was to actually see more alien presence at the same time, which was very lacking although their was one original scene which shows the aliens initially piled in together while trapped on the ship. Supposedly the intelligent beings had died off while in flight or the ship had somehow been captured by these lower life forms, but somehow were unable to pilot the space ship themselves, therefore close to perishing together trapped in close quarters within the belly of the ship itself. The CGI prawns seems to run in and out of the camera view, however, a count of the presence together on the screen together always yields approximately a half a dozen or so simultaneously.

It's worth mentioning that many great South African actors were used in this film including Vanessa Haywood (Wikus' Wife) who has has other small, yet impressive roles in her career.Read full review...

Wasn't what they made the movie out to be!

We bought it due the reviews we had read and how it was bragged up on tv.I think the plot was good,but they didn't need to add to it make a story behind it like they did in lord of the rings,they kinda did but hurt the movie by only keeping the plot on one person. they should have not done the story like a documentary.Most good action movie with scifi mixed in they show several different areas of action.they don't just follow one person through the whole movie.But with lord of the rings they did but they made it long and action with reality. this movie was more boring with not any good action till the end.It was poorly made movie to much documentary.i wouldn't watch it again, the plot had such little action they you won't miss the plot if you left the movie for 5 minites.not a rewatch movie in my eyes wouldn't recommend it to no one.if they remade the movie with the same plot to make it a good movie it should kick out the documentary part and should be at least a 3 hour movie with better action and a better thought out plot.that part was ok but they could have showed us more on what they were thinking as being here on our planet. i never read the ratings on this movie but it should be low.THE Creatures were great plot of them were great but more on how they livied and us living with them not cheaply made shots of they society.I was severly dissapointed with buying the movie.THEY COULD MAKE THE MOVIE INTO SERIES IF THEY DIDN'T PUT THE PEOPLE TO SLEEP WITH THE FIRST PART NEED TO DO MUCH BETTER WITH THE NEXT ONE...ALLOT BETTER.....WAS BORING IN MANY MANY WAYS...Read full review...

Very Good

When I first started watching this movie I didn't think that I was going to like it. It starts off kinda like a weird sci-fi documentary and COPS combined into one weird sci-fi movie. But once it really got into the movie the more I liked it because it kinda went away from the whole documentary style movie. I was really surprised, because I was about to just stop watching it when it changed styles. It ends up being a really action packed movie with a lot of blood and gore like people exploding, body parts flying off, etc.

The only thing that I did not like about this movie was the language. Once it got into the movie it was just none stop f words all the way. I would recommend watching this movie if you are an adult, but I wouldn't let a child watch it.

Here is a little summary...

Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa's District 9 as the world's nations argued over what to do with them. Now, patience over the alien situation has run out. Control over the aliens has been contracted out to Multi-National United (MNU), a private company uninterested in the aliens' welfare - they will receive tremendous profits if they can make the aliens' awesome weaponry work. So far, they have failed; activation of the weaponry requires alien DNA. The tension between the aliens and the humans comes to a head when an MNU field operative, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), contracts a mysterious virus that begins changing his DNA. Wikus quickly becomes the most hunted man in the world, as well as the most vauluable - he is the key to unlocking the secrets of alien technology. Ostracized and friendless, there is only one place left for him to hide: "District 9".Read full review...

District 9

I have mixed feelings on this movie. First the story is about Aliens who arrived on Earth starnded and moved into a ghetto. Of course the local residents of South Africa want them to leave. So they plan to relocate them outside of town. A worker on this case soon finds out what its like to be one of the aliens on the run.

When this movie started off it had a documentary style to it that I didnt care for. 16-20 minutes in it became the scifi movie I knew it was. Lots of action and some gore too suprisingly.

This is another movie for me that people said was excellent (like James Camerons:Avatar) but I found it good not awesome.Read full review...

District 9

District 9 started out a bit slow for my action-loving taste! However, it did pick up and got more interesting as the movie progressed. I liked (don't want to give away any spoilers)the human element that developed as it was a surprise to me. Unfortunately, most movies now days, I have figured out within the first 20-30 minutes. But this element certainly added much more excitement to the movie. It made one fill a bit more involved in the story. You just need to watch the movie, be patient, and wait to see what I mean! Overall, it was a good movie, and I don't regret buying it as I'm a sci-fi person and am willing to give any sci-fi movie a chance!Read full review...

District 9 Totally entertaining

This movie has it all. The story is not an epic or a classic, but is a great yarn. The Prawns are intelligent aliens marooned on our planet and treated like stray dogs. One hapless average human bureaucrat ends up in the middle of an accident and suddenly the Prawns become his brothers. The relationship he forms with their leader becomes a pivot to the story and points to the fact that friendship and integrity are not limited to humans but may be universal. Suddenly the victimized Prawns come to life as real and symbols of the oppressed and exploited everywhere. The Prawns themselves are strange indeed but walk upright and talk albeit in an gibberish that their human keepers can understand. The use of subtitles for translation of their speech is both clever and effective.Somehow you accept these creatures as aliens and almost people in disguise. The actual design and visualization of these creatures is flawless and they live on the screen...The action scenes bring to mind Black Hawk Down and the weapons Transformer. For both Human and Prawn life is cheap and violence is a constant undercurrent in the movie. But it is part of the story and Prawn and Human alike manifest their bestial roots. There are a lot of gross moments in the film but they make the plot flow and feel realistic. What happens to the main character are a series of gradual transformation that you can almost feel..Great actor and director. Filming and action sequences and alien artifacts are excellent. Video game, sci-fi movie and decent story concept in a fast moving logical package. A follow on is being planned and it should be quite an ending to this remarkable story. No disappointment with this film. It is very good at what it attempts. You will watch it more than once..Read full review...

Stranded aliens with new experiences

When I 1st heard of this movie, it sounded really interesting and when I watched it I really enjoyed it and now I have it on DVD to watch it more often.

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: goodwillbookwor...

Drama And Fear know time to run TY>Blackeye767 love you karen

lots of different changes man has to go through during a crisis in the outer limits of our Solar system. who are the real monsters? are we giving up our humanity for the sake of survival, or are we dealing with brute force to end this series? A life for all to be involved with Truth Justice, And the American Way of life. hide my shame for our human life, we are like every one else accept our ancestors are not trusting or honest, Go through the movie and see what you turn out too be. You will be in a great pit, i would call Hell, Take cover, and watch your backs, For in district 9 no Humans allowed District9 a loss of human freedom Is there a well balanced, dialect forming to save our life as we know itRead full review...