Nothing new here, but District 9 is entertaining

Rating: 7/10 (14 August 2009)

28 Days Later + Aliens + Robocop = District 9
Above all the hype on how "smart" the film is, forget it, its just basically a buddy chase film.
That is the best I can do and completely avoid spoilers.
The violence and of course some other elements of the film clearly harken back to Paul Verhoeven's Robocop, the movie was also equally influenced by the list I started the review with.
Every one of those movies was good entertainment. So, wisely the filmmakers stole from good source material.
District 9 largely succeeds at being what the abominable Cloverfield wished it could be: one heck of a B movie. Where Cloverfield's premise lost steam quickly after the opening scenes, District 9 changes gears every 20 minutes into almost a completely different movie to keep the pot boiling. The shaky camera stuff has been done to death but thankfully it isn't too overbearing here. Surprisingly, there are some good stabs at humor too.
The special effects are OK, but with the DV shutter drag, we never get a good look half the time. The film feels low budget with really only one or two actors on screen at any given time. And don't get me started on numerous plot holes gaping bigger than that alien ship. Above the endless splattering bodies, crotchety aliens and mockumentary talking heads, when District 9 was over, I really just didn't feel anything. Other weak spots were the commando "villain" was very caricature baddie and out of place in the pseudo-reality of the other characters. The social message on the faux Apartheid is there but a bit thin and there really isn't much here we already haven't seen before, but I still enjoyed the ride.
I liked it.