Tag Archives: District Nine

Reviews of District Nine

To prepare  for your writing assessment you need to read the material I have prepared for you but also look elsewhere for a discussion on the film. District Nine has received a great deal of attention and there are a large number of reviews out there, many of them positive.

At Rotten Tomatoes 94% of critics gave the film a positive review, writing that the film is, “Technically brilliant and emotionally wrenching, District 9 has action, imagination, and all the elements of a thoroughly entertaining science-fiction classic.”At Metacritic, the film has received a score of 81 based on 36 reviews, indicating “Universal Acclaim”. Sara Vilkomerson of The New York Observer writes, “District 9 is the most exciting science fiction movie to come along in ages; definitely the most thrilling film of the summer; and quite possibly the best film I’ve seen all year.” Christy Lemire from the Associated Press was impressed by the plot and thematic content, claiming that “District 9 has the aesthetic trappings of science fiction but it’s really more of a character drama, an examination of how a man responds when he’s forced to confront his identity during extraordinary circumstances.” Entertainment Weekly‘s Lisa Schwarzbaum described it as “… madly original, cheekily political, [and] altogether exciting …”

From Wikipedia.

Enemy Mine

We were talking about Wolfgang Peterson’s 1985 film Enemy Mine yesterday when discussing Blomkamp’s influences. The  relationship that Wikus develops with Christopher is being compared to Alien Nation and Enemy Mine – as District Nine does have a bit of the buddy movie in it. Enemy Mine is much more sentimental than D9 but we do have plot similarities – an alien and a human meet, hate and then find common ground. However, District Nine is much darker. If you want to see what Enemy Mine was all about have a look at the trailer above.

All hail the Slumdog Millionaire of sci-fi.

That’s the title of the New Zealand Herald review of ‘District Nine’ – they gave it 5 stars. Here’s a taste:

It might be set somewhere you don’t usually see in the movies – the slums of South Africa. And it might star nobody you’ve heard of – the producer guy who has his name at the top of the poster is its only marquee drawcard. And it might have only cost a fraction of any of this year’s other dumb and derivative blockbusters. But there is still much familiar about District 9, a thrilling smart-thinking spin on the alien invasion movie.

Read the rest here.