Sean's blog

District 9 is a better movie than Avatar

District 9

I might never have watched District 9, but Jess came back from her sister’s house with a sack full of DVDs recently. Among the DVDs was District 9. I recognised the “No Humans” warning sign from the limited marketing I’d seen.

I watched the movie on my laptop a couple of nights ago. When I watch a movie late at night, I have to be honest and admit to fast forwarding it if it’s dragging a bit. I did that when I watched Avatar. Don’t get me wrong: I think Avatar is a beautiful movie. Having done some work in 3D simulation and VR in the past, I find it difficult to sit through a ‘fly-through’ if it’s not adding anything to the plot.

There didn’t seem to be a single opportunity in District 9 to fast-forward! Every scene in the movie seemed to add something new to the plot, to the characters, or to how immersed I felt in the story.

I’m not going to spoil District 9 for you by giving the plot away, but it has something for everyone: it’s a tear-jerking love story, it has an immense space ship, it has corporate greed and double-dealings, betrayal, enemies turned friends, comedy, aliens, huge guns and some fairly in-your-face political comment that borders on defamation!

I would recommend District 9 to anyone, unless you’re the sort of person who says “gross” a lot, or you’re under 12 years old. Bear with the start of the movie: there’s some fairly heavy scene-setting going on, but it’s all important later on. Enjoy it!