District 9 is the new Area 51

What a lame title... oh how I carry the shame.

I came into this movie without reading any reviews and only seeing all those teaser trailers and viral marketing signs, or what have you. My roommate mentioned that it might be shaky like a fake documentary (Cloverfield???), but I wasn't worried about it being as bad (visually) as Cloverfield because of all the good reviews I saw based on the Rotten Tomatoes percentage. I should have known though, with the footage of that girl that always spoke in the beginning of the trailer... I always thought it was a real thing until it got to the aliens.

I tend to fear what the person I'm seeing it with thinks of the movie, especially when I dragged them to see it. So in the beginning, based on my roommate's vibes, I thought maybe it was too slow and felt like it was dragging on, but I still very much enjoyed the interviews and information the people were giving us, as compared to Paper Heart. It just sort of felt longer than a slightly less than 2 hour movie. At the point where they started to introduce the main character, Wikus, I got a little confused because I must have missed that they were talking about him in the past tense and the footage is in present tense for the narrative. The transition from documentary and narrative were pretty well executed. The shots didn't need to be so muddled at times, but I've noticed that it happens with all action scenes in movies.

Without really thinking about what the movie was going to explore, I was so amazed at how much social commentary they shoved into the movie. It made me so sad about mankind, and reminded me of my emotional feelings towards animals. The acting was really good and visual effects were amazing. Some of the plot points of course weren't explained or felt like plot holes. But I don't want to spoil anything. Towards the end, I just couldn't get enough and I would not mind if there will be a sequel, but it is still amazing on its own.

Three and a half out of Four.