Looks nice, but not as deep as expected.

Rating: 6/10 (11 September 2009)

When I first saw the trailer, I imagined District 9 to become a serious movie with thought - now that I've seen it I have to regret my naivety.
I will rate this movie 6 just because of the production. The images are magnificent and Johannesburg as location is a good choice. The CGI and gore effects are very good but exaggerated and sometimes they're just over the top, causing the movie to lose sincerity. Peter Jackson: I think you miss the good old times, when you showed us what BAD TASTE means.
The Story was - against my expectations - way too stereotypical with "van der Merwe" as critical character. I found it hard to follow this guy and you honestly notice, that Neill Blomkamp is a very inexperienced writer. Van der Merwes actions are just too tailored, making the character perfectly fit into the plot. In my opinion it should be the other way around: You've got a character in mind, and thus create a plot, based on what the actual character would do.
For example: What's with these stupid phone calls with Tanja? It's an irreproducible glitch that destroys so much of the movies sincere side. All they say is: "I love you, i believe you, don't believe your father, i do believe you" and all that gibberish for no reason!
One of the worst examples for a major "clichee-scene" is when van der Merwe is in the Mech, running away leaving the Alien behind and 5 seconds later he - for no reason - turns around and rescues him. Why don't shoot the military guy in the first place? At that point of the movie it doesn't matter because he has killed like 20-50 people anyways. It is just a bad attempt to create something like tension in all the wrong places.
If I could rate the Production and the Story separately I would give a 3/10 for story and a 9/10 for visualization, leaving me with a 6.
I honestly don't get this overrating delusion everyone is suffering from....