District 9

Einer der intelligentesten Filme des Jahres. Es gar nicht mal so sehr um die Idee als vielmehr um die Möglichkeit, wie es Blomkamp gelungen ist, das Genre zu aktualisieren. Im District 9 haben wir eigentlich alles, was man von Produkten eher unterer Levels erwartet, außerdem in einem vollends raffinierten Paket. Und die Idee, ein Dokument nicht nur als authentifizierende Komponente, sondern vor allem als Mittel zur Erklärung von Abkürzungen zu verwenden, hat schlichtweg Anerkennung verdient. (23.09.2009)

Mit einem Wort: Großartig. Mit mehr Worten: Die Art und Weise, wie es District 9 allen "Science-Fiction-Sensationen" der letzten Zeit, wie z. B. Transformers, Terminator - Die Erlösung und letztendlich auch Avatar - Aufbruch nach Pandora, zeigt, ist beeindruckend. Einen so originellen Film mit so vielen einfallsreichen Ideen und einer so tollen Schauspielleistung des Haupthelden, der so fesselnd aufgenommen wurde, habe ich schon lange nicht gesehen. Einen Science-Fiction-Actionfilm zu drehen, in dem auch ein tiefer, aktueller und verdammt brennender Gedanke verborgen ist, erfordert mehr als nur Talent. Davon hat Neil Blomkamp anscheinend mehr als genug (Jackson weiß halt, in wen er Geld stecken soll). Hinzu kommen das exotische Südafrika-Milieu, die Musik, die perfekt gemachten Aliens und der Dokumentarstil, der wirklich fesselnd ist… Es sind fünf solide, hundertprozentige Sterne geworden. (18.08.2010)

The prawns would probably love Whiskas, but personally I would prefer to pay entrance for a movie that had it clear in its head whether it wants to be a sloppy B sci-fi where the worse it is the better, or E.T., Transformers, Children of Men or War with Newts. I’m not saying that it can’t be combined into one whole, but certainly not by forcibly changing genre every quarter of an hour, forgetting about everything that has come before and shaking a stolen closed circuit camera around like a maniac. I followed the trend presented by Blomkamp and within fifteen minutes I forgot that I had ever seen this movie. (21.09.2009)

There was a loophole in Hollywood, and a guy who is no stranger to the word "compromise" slipped into the A-list mainstream. I’m glad Peter Jackson gave Neill Blomkamp the chance to make an incredibly engrossing and captivating sci-fi for a ridiculous thirty million. The film squeezes out the subject matter to the last drop, and then there are the special effects sequences. The feeling of "this is how it might actually happen..." beats the viewer over the head in every scene, and yet it doesn't falter in its pace. Objectively, I could ask several "why and how?" questions, but subjectively, I was ecstatic the whole time. If Blomkamp really does make a "Halo" movie, I want to see "Hal-Life" from him too, the guy’s got what it takes! I hope he succeeds. (20.09.2009)

I resisted the seductive call of the DVDrip so I could watch this film for the first time in the cinema, and now I can say that I would have been furious with myself if I had missed it. Neil Blomkamp delivers a great science fiction film, the best in recent years (and what’s nice is that this isn’t the first time this year that I say this, and maybe not even the last, re: Moon and Avatar). I respect the radical style change between the first and second halves, but I loved the first half better because it’s something incredible and never seen before in the genre and in this form. Rather than to Cloverfield, District 9 is more similar to the unknown Japanese horror film Noroi the Curse, which keeps the documentary format uninterrupted for its entire runtime. The events of the second half could not be captured as a “documentary”, that was very clear to me. Even though it reaches its “WOW” peak somewhere at the beginning, the rest of film is so striking and breathtaking that it was a joy to watch. The occasional lapses in the script are easy to ignore – they aren’t as big as I’ve read in some reviews. I recommend it. Edit: The second viewing brings the rating down to four. (17.09.2009)