Should have taken the Oscar for best picture.

Rating: 10/10 (11 January 2011)

Let me just say up front that District 9 is a great movie. I'm not sure what influence Peter Jackson had here, as he's listed as a producer and not a director, but someone deserves a lot of credit. On paper, District 9 sounds like Saturday matinée throw-away nonsense. In reality, it is a movie with subtle storytelling, a griping plot, great action, and superb effects. The characters are driven not by silly Hollywood archetypes but believable motivations. I found myself looking down on the aliens, revolted by the aliens, and then cheering for the aliens. The main character is a schmuck, he's selfish, he's a coward...but the movie did a great job putting me in his shoes, making me empathize with him and understand him. The faux documentary style adds to the film and never detracts. Even the hand-held "shaky" camera style that I usually dislike was used expertly here.
The best science fiction often hides a powerful message behind a fantastic facade. The message here goes beyond the ham-fisted environmental simplicity found in Avatar. It also goes well beyond the apartheid analogy everyone likes to pretend that they noticed on their own. It's a movie about xenophobia, about becoming something you fear, and about the treatment of those we consider inferiors. There are overtones of First World vs Third World and themes of cultural corruption and decay.
Plus, District 9 stands up pretty well as a shoot 'em up, sci-fi action, monster movie.