District 9Movie Reviews

Poster art for "District 9."

Gifts + Promos

The Vow Free Gift

Buy tickets & receive a FREE 3-Month Love Forecast from Astrology.com!

Fandango Bucks

Send your sweetheart the gift of movies this Valentine’s Day!

Journey Sweeps

Enter for a chance to win a trip for 2 to Nicaragua!

Interactive Oscar Ballot

Who's taking home the Oscar? Cast your vote & challenge your friends on Facebook!

Need Help?
Must Go!
Avg. Critic Score: 81 out of 100 Universal acclaim Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
15 Iffy for 15+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    Washington Post |

    A sci-fi-fueled indictment of man's inhumanity to man -- and the non-human -- District 9 is all horribly familiar, and transfixing. Read full review

  • 100
    San Francisco Chronicle |

    Every now and then, a film comes along that both defies and compels description. District 9 is one such movie: a science-fiction action vehicle so brilliantly and fully imagined that real life, when it resumes after the credits, arrives with a new sense of dread. Read full review

  • 100
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    No true fan of science fiction -- or, for that matter, cinema -- can help but thrill to the action, high stakes and suspense built around a very original chase movie. Read full review

  • 100
    Los Angeles Times |

    District 9 is very smart sci-fi, but that's just the beginning; it's also a scathing social satire hidden inside a terrific action thriller teeming with gross aliens and regrettable inter-species conflict. And it's a blast. . . . Read full review

  • 100
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    Madly original, cheekily political, altogether exciting District 9. Read full review

  • 90
    Variety | Justin Chang

    Though compelling throughout, District 9 never becomes outright terrifying, largely because Blomkamp is less interested in exploiting his aliens for cheap scares than in holding up a mirror to our own bloodthirsty, xenophobic species. Read full review

  • 88
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    With its clever faux documentary style, this is the most imaginative science-fiction movie to come along in years. Read full review

  • 88
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    This baby has the stuff to end the movie summer on a note of dazzle and distinction. Read full review

  • 80
    The New York Times | A.O. Scott

    In the best B-movie tradition, the filmmakers embed their ideas in an ingenious, propulsive and suspenseful genre entertainment, one that respects your intelligence even as it makes your eyes pop (and, once in a while, your stomach turn). Read full review

  • 75
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    Despite its creativity, the movie remains space opera and avoids the higher realms of science-fiction. Read full review

View more reviews for District 9 on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 15+ Sci-fi stunner is smart but gory; way too violent for kids.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this gritty, buzzworthy sci-fi epic filmed in South Africa (and produced by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson) is full of extremely realistic, bloody violence, including severed limbs, lots of bodies, piles of high-tech weapons, and even torture. The movie's aliens aren't cute or appealing in any way -- they're scary-looking, insectoid creations with complex biologies and lives. Expect constant strong language (especially "f--k"), as well as some drinking, smoking, and discussion of sex.
  • Families can talk about the movie's extreme violence. Is it meant to be realistic (in that, yes, high-tech alien weaponry could be this horrible) or is it just eye candy for action fans? Does it have more or less impact than the violence in a movie like G.I. Joe?
  • How does the movie's news footage/documentary-like style compare to that of other large-scale sci-fi films? Does it seem more realistic? Does that make it scarier?
  • How does the movie's setting echo the real-life conditions of poverty and prejudice during South Africa's apartheid era? Even though it's a sci-fi film, what messages does the movie send about that period?
  • Can you think of other sci-fi movies (or other types of media) that have tackled tough political ideas through metaphor and fantasy?
The good stuff
  • message true1 Positive messages: Although it takes place in a sci-fi context, the movie offers a fascinating perspective on South Africa's struggle with apartheid -- and on any nation's struggle with immigration and fear of "the other." The realization that the filmmakers didn't have to build the slums that their disenfranchised alien immigrants live in should also offer pause for thought.
  • rolemodels true2 Positive role models: The movie ultimately culminates with two beings -- one human, one alien -- working together in the service of the common good and struggling to do the right thing at great personal cost and danger. A lot of painful, upsetting stuff happens to them and others along the way, of course.
What to watch for
  • violence false4 Violence: Constant, bloody, and brutal violence, some of it involving humans and some involving humanoid, insect-like aliens. Kicking, fighting, severed limbs. Torture, including a man being jabbed with cattle prod so that his hand will pull the trigger of a gun. Characters use high-tech sci-fi firearms, some of which strike with such force that they liquefy their victims. Alien weapons are tested on living beings. Scary medical experimentation imagery, including bloody, explicit body modifications as a man has his DNA rewritten by an alien virus.
  • sex false2 Sex: Some discussion of prostitution and exotic venereal diseases in connection with talk about human/alien interspecies sex.
  • language false5 Language: Lots of harsh/strong language, including "f--k" used near constantly, as well as "bastard," "oh my God," "balls," "crap," and more. Some of the swearing may be hard for American audiences to understand given the actors' accents.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false2 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Some smoking and drinking.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

Looking for more reviews? Movies.com Critics Say:

Dave White

4.0

Dave White Profile See Dave White's Profile

Sci-Fi apartheid. Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

Read more movie reviews at Movies.com

District 9 Featured Trailers + Video Clips

Watch All Videos

Facebook Movie Fans

Fan Fandango on Facebook