I was fortunate enough to see the opening midnight showing of the new movie District 9, and it lives up to it's ad campaign and then some.

District 9 has been nearly unanimously praised by critics, and I would be surprised if it did not make the top 3, or even #1 slot for best movies of the year.

Even the story of how this movie came to be is amazing, and is what got me interested in this film.

This is a movie for everyone.  Every thing about this movie is excellent, but nothing is perfect.  This is an amazing film in it's package, but falls only slightly short of everything it sets out to do.  Still, in today's world of clearly labeled "action," "comedy," "romance" and "storytelling" movies, this one is a breath of fresh air.

I am often afraid that today's audiences really only want single dimension movies where they get exactly what they expect and lots of it.  District 9 simply is not that movie. 

Because of all the bases this movie covers, it tends to fall just shy of perfection at most of them.  Here is a quick rundown.

This may contain spoilers, but nothing too specific I promise.

Character:

The main character is amazingly acted and written.  However nearly every other character in the movie is very one dimensional to the point of cliches.  Whether it is the corporate man that cares more about profit than his own family, or the violent bloodthirsty leader of District 9's policing force who makes sure his men carry extra ammo, shoot and ask questions later, and loves to kill aliens just for the thrill of it.

Story:

This is one of the most original stories we have seen in a long time.  The pacing however, had a little room for improvement.  The first 15 minutes of the movie was almost entirely shown already in the previews and trailers for the film.  I suppose this is more a marketing problem, but I found myself a little bored at first seeing a plot explained that I already had garnered from watching trailers.  The ending does anything but wrap things up.  The creator, Neill Blomkamp, has already said "If this film is successful, if audiences want another, whatever, District 10, I would love to do it," so perhaps the ending is left wide open for a sequel.  

Action:

If you came for explosions and have been itching for your fix since Transformers 2, first of all go to hell, and second of all I imagine you will be bored for the first half of this film.  The first half is more story and character development.  However, in the second half the movie really transforms into one big shootout, with some of the best gory CGI I have ever seen.

All in all, this movie deserves all the praise it has recieved.  While it isn't perfect in any single category, it still excells in all of them.  This IS the movie of the year.

8.5/10