Irritating, for many reasons

Rating: 3/10 (16 May 2014)

Neil Blomkamp's debut cinema movie, District 9, was great and received much critical acclaim, as well as four Oscar nominations. This, his second movie, is not anywhere near as good.
Not just bad, irritating, and for many reasons. What should be a harmless sci fi action -drama is turned into a political diatribe on the haves vs the have-nots and how evil wealthy people are. Also, there is appears to be some sort of pro-illegal alien agenda.
Even if you ignore the political agendas, the movie is still pretty bad. Quite formulaic, implausible plot. Fairly predictable in the end.
Then we have the casting. Matt Damon is totally miscast as a tattooed criminal. Yes, he is the hero, ultimately, a role he plays well, but the criminal side just didn't work. Similarly, Jodie Foster as he scheming executive also didn't feel right. Worse than that, her accent was incredibly irritating and unnatural, grating like nails on a blackboard.
On the plus side, the South African mercenaries were good fun, and had some of the best lines. Always good to hear South African slang (this coming from an ex-South African).
Hopefully Neil Blomkamp rediscovers his District 9 mojo in his third movie.