7 Academy Award Nominations....at Least!

Rating: 10/10 (15 August 2009)

District 9 manages to be a kick ass science fiction adventure/action movie that enlightens even more than it entertains.
The "illegal aliens" in this case are indeed extraterrestrial and many of the "humans" turn out to be monstrous creatures. I won't spoil it for you by saying too much, but keep an eye on all the political/moral implications that make this "science fiction" movie as relevant as today's newspaper.
The acting is uniformly superb and the characterizations are 100% believable. Obviously the director, Neill Blomkamp, has done a fantastic job and I bet he gets nominations for both directing and the wonderful screenplay. Sharlto Copley clearly deserves a nomination as best actor.
The special effects/sound etc all work brilliantly to create a world and a situation that is (if one were to think a bit) so unlikely as to be nearly impossible; yet the movie manages to immersively grab you and not let go for two hours that seem more like twenty minutes.
On a (relatively speaking) shoestring budget of 30 million bucks Peter Jackson has produced a masterpiece here; I only hope that the inevitable sequel lives up to the quality of part one!