Provocative movie has something for almost everyone

Rating: 10/10 (7 August 2009)

I just saw an advance screening for DISTRICT 9 with some others from my book club. Half of the 300 people attending were still buzzing about this film-goers' delight when the lights came up after closing credits. Some said its setting in South Africa's Soweto slums reminded them of CITY OF GOD. Others said its mockumentary style was reminiscent of CLOVERFIELD. Someone said it ranks up there with THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951, of course) and ALIEN for sci-fi originality. Another fan said it reminded her of IMPOSTOR "on steroids" (I looked this up, and it's an obscure 2001 flick starring Gary Sinise, in a moral dilemma similar to Wikus' in DISTRICT 9). At any rate, normally I don't award low-budget ($5 million) remakes of shorts with a "10" out of 10 rating, but I found DISTRICT 9 to be enough of an eye-opener to deserve a "10," despite being more flawed than any other top-ranking movie I can think of at the moment. The key to enjoying DISTRICT 9 is to sit back, and not to nit-pick. It may lack the stars and special effects bazillions of TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN or STAR TREK: THE FUTURE BEGINS, but DISTRICT 9 will give most people more food for thought than either of those two earlier releases of this summer.