81
Metascore
36 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttNo 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.
- 100Film ThreatFilm ThreatThe humanity of District 9 adds another dimension to this multilayered, rewarding work -- one of the best of the summer, and undoubtedly the most inventive from the multiplex this year.
- 100Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumMadly original, cheekily political, altogether exciting District 9.
- 90VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangThough 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.
- 90Village VoiceVillage VoiceDistrict 9 whizzes by with a resourcefulness and mordant wit nearly worthy of its obvious influences: "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," "Dawn of the Dead," and "Starship Troopers."
- 89Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAustin ChronicleMarc SavlovBlomkamp and his entire cast and crew have created an instant genre classic that transcends the self-limiting ghetto implied by the term "science fiction" and instead, like precursors such as Robert Wise's "The Day the Earth Stood Still," engages not only the mind but the heart as well. It's magnificent.
- 88St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsSt. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsThe reason District 9 reverberates so loudly is because its moral indignation is cranked to 11.
- 88ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliAnyone who watches District 9 and doesn't think of Apartheid, Nazis, and Josef Mengele needs to spend some time reading a few history books.
- 88Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanCharlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanSouth African director Neill Blomkamp set and shot the film around his native Johannesburg, so parallels to apartheid leap to mind. Yet the script he wrote with Terri Tatchell applies to any culture that bluntly excludes another.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertDespite its creativity, the movie remains space opera and avoids the higher realms of science-fiction.