This film shouldn’t have happened. But it did. And it’s the best aliens come to earth film ever. I’d love to see a sequel. I need to know if Christopher keeps his promise. He’s 11 years late

This movie looks even better than most movies right now

District 9 is one of my top favorite films, because the story felt so grounded, so realistic, the FX visuals perfectly added to cinematography, and the aliens themselves were masterfully animated to induce empathy and compassion from the audience. Seriously, what an amazing movie.

I watched District 9 on a rip that didn't have the subtitles for the Roaches. I thought it was an overall directorial decision for the film and to be honest I still pretty much understood 80-90% of the whole experience without Subtitles. Which I think shows you just how well they managed to portray the story.

After all these years, this is still the film I'm most proud to have worked on (I worked on the model and texturing for the mothership, helicopters, prawn eyes). It was such a well told story, and the approaches to the VFX were really clever in part because Image Engine hadn't done much in the way of film VFX prior to this -so novel approaches were being created because we didn't know any better. The practical effects were also really great, benefitting so much from Neill Blonkamp's VFX background.

Also don't forget that money doesn't always buy talent. Sometimes a VFX team is just made up of extremely competent management and individual artists who haven't yet made a name for themselves. Hell, having good top to bottom communications compared to the large studios of bloated egos might also be a factor. This movie had a clear vision and no-one on the team phoned it in.

One of my favorite movies! When other people didn't like it and I asked why, they said it made them feel weird. That is how powerful this sci-fi is.

District 9 was an absolute masterpiece of a movie. The staggering amount of things that had to line up for this to be made on the budget it had will probably not be replicated for years to come. I watched this when I was in high school on a "decent" tv for the time. Watched it again recently on a 4k TV: still holds up.

This film was amazing. No one around me liked it and I was so confused. I was heartbroken that a sequel never came to light.

My friend said he watched this movie for the first time and this is in 2023 and he was amazed at how good the film is. This actually shows that this is really a great film with great VFX.

The movie is a masterpiece, and the scenes with the mech suit are still the best ever to this day. No other film has done mech suits as good

This film came out at the perfect time as those riots you mentioned was a big thing here in SA, had major xenophobic attacks on foreigners, not just Zimbabweans in 2008. It was so bad that people that were locals were mistaken for foreigners and killed. The one line in this film hit me big time when I saw it, "if they were from another country, it would be fine, but they're not even from this planet" and I was like suuuuuuuuuure. The other thing is what you said about the mech suit. it also showed what a real person would do with tech he has never used before in a life or death situation. You wouldn't be cool in it or even strategic, you would just go and hope to live through it. I loved how real this film felt and as a Saffa, the commentary was spot on.

With the main character turning into a “prawn” as things progress, I always wondered if all of the others were actually born prawns or whether many were other species who were transformed by their oppressors. Did a certain species become transformed who retained enough of their intelligence to orchestrate their escape?

I loved this movie, I remember being totally blown away at the time by every piece. Was so surprised when I learned other people didn’t like it. The Directing, acting, and visuals are all incredible at a level you rarely see in movies.

As someone who primarily only likes practical effects, District 9 was the first film to make me think maybe, just maybe CGI could become truly an asset to film... If more films went this direction it'd be incredible, but then the Avengers was released and everything changed forever.

The lighting matches the scenery real well, and the surface materials are not overly saturated with color or overly shiny. They really nailed it.

Starship troopers is another movie with mind blowing effects that mostly holds up today. Very few movies achieve that.

Huh, never realized how good the CGI in this movie was. Truly ahead of its time.

Im so glad that you've specified how much work animators put in to make vfx look as good as they are. I work in 2D, but I still encounter a ton of people saying "well they'll just CG it" or how "the actor did all that" in terms of mocap. Vfx/animation/video production is an insane feat that takes teamwork, careful planning, and a whole lot of attention to detail. My first encounter with this movie was in college when my friend livestreamed it to me from her place in NYC to my place in LA. I remember being SHOCKED at how good it looked, and even now it still holds up.

District 9 has to be one of my favourite movies of all time because of well done and immersed I was when watching. The acting, plot, CGI everything was done perfectly.

District 9 is a classic example of working with what you have to the maximum. We probably wouldn’t be talking about it if it weren’t for one crucial element that wasn’t discussed in the video… that is was just a damn good movie.

Not only is it visually stunning and ahead of its time in many ways but the topic and themes are also powerful that affected me as much as the visuals.

I saw it in theatre the first time soon after it’s release. I really enjoyed it. The main revelation as a viewer was how I felt empathy for the prawns (a slur given to them for their similar appearance to the ocean creatures of the same name) as the movie progressed, and their mistreatment was revealed, as embodied by Ficus. It was surprising for me as they were cgi and did not actually exist. It was a strange feeling I’d not experienced before in a film.

I agree. First watched this upon Blu-Ray release and had the same sort of "shock from clarity", the ripple of finely detailed textures blasts through your eyes. The lighting is incredible as well.

Fun Fact: My friends dad acted as a partial extra soldier for this movie, he acted as 11 different soldiers. (Dan finally have a comment to reach 100 likes)

I was blown away by the alien weapons design. They figure not much in film, but screen and sound performance they do is just shoking. That moment when vacuum shotgun shoots - that was something.

One of my favorite films of all time. Took me COMPLETELY off-guard when I watched it the first time. I have no idea why there haven’t been multiple sequels and spin-off series’s. Seriously a damn shame….

The hand-held shaky "fly on the wall" documentary style is called "Cinema Verité". A big proponent of it is Ken Loach. It's worth noting that to avoid massive tracking issues, you can film fairly steady, track your markers, and then add artificial camera shake and motion blur, that way your CG is also blurred identically to the foreground and plates,

i watched your video because i saw the plagiarised nerdstalgic one and thought it was unfair to not watch yours as well. I have to say that your version is much more interesting and in deph especialy when you spoke about weapons and the aliens design

I was completely taken off guard with this movie first time I watched it. How you slowly became befriended with the prawns through the movie. The visuals, the gritty locations, the hovering spaceship above the city, the music, the, to me, new and wierd feeling of small drops of comedy and hidden slapstick within the melancholic drama, the subtile message and... yes, the amazingly good VFX and CGI blended so cleverly and casually with a perfect cast of actors. Still my all time favorite movie. I'm surprised and disappointed of how many people who doesn't get to understand this masterpiece. I have told so many people to give it a second chance after my informative guidelines on how to perceive, feel and understand 🙃🙂.

Saw district 9 in the theaters and I was so blown away by the effects that I made it a point to see it again on the big screen. There's only a handful of movies that I've seen more than once in the theaters and district 9 is one of them.

I think what I enjoy the most about rewatching D9 is to contextualize what you are seeing based on how the scene is being shot and who the audience for that shot is. When it is cinematically following Wickus we clearly are the audience so set that aside. Consider the documentary segments initially. Wickus is documenting the MNU actions for presumably a public relations piece or history channel type venue. Then there are the interrogation moments with other MNU employees and Wickus' family which seems timeline-wise to be an after-the-fact expose on MNU's horrors and poor cover-up. But also the scene where they are showcasing the weapons is shot as both documentation for science on the functional limitations and effects of the weapons but also for the benefactors of MNU so they know what they are getting out of their operations. You, the viewer, are taking the roles of multiple audience types which is why there are so many different styles of documentation being employed in the movie and it changes frequently. It is fun to try and keep track of it all when watching.

This is a film I remember my dad really enjoying when we watched it together back in the day. He and I both loved classics of the action sci-fi genre like Predator, Aliens, and Total Recall, and he ranked District 9 among the best of them. I am a huge fan of how the mech moved and operated in this film.

I put this movie on one random day as a “background movie” while I slept because I was incredibly sick. I ended up watching the movie three times in a row, despite my state. I cried so hard every damn time the guy tried reaching his wife, ugh. Legit one of my favorite films.

i think the number 1 factor on why it did so well is passion, the film makers wanted to make sure it felt realistic and in-depth, not something for cash, but something to make you feel and understand a believable like situation, and few movies manage to nail it well like that.

All this shows me is that films should be insanely difficult to make and should require painstaking processes and dedication to create a masterpiece. Something a lot of modern films lack.

Wait, it was made in 2008? I watched it last year and I didn’t even think twice about any of the cgi, but I guess that was the directors intent. So well done district 9, you did so well making the your visual effects fit in we all overlooked them, and how crazy they are.

This movie absolutely changed special effects in cinema. The artbook of it is fantastic, highly recommended to any designer and illustrator.

I have 'The Art of District 9 Weta Workshop' book and it's something to behold. This movie is amazing and will stand the test of time for sure. This KZfaq essay is spot on and should be a real eye-opener for anyone (not just fans). Bravo

Still on one of my favorite projects to have worked on. When we were doing the work on this all of us felt like we were apart of something special. Proud, honored and humbled by the opportunity. Niell was great, he worked with the VFX and not against the process, maybe because he comes from that world himself. Either way its rare in my experience. But the results certainly hold up. Thanks for the video and a lovely walk down memory lane. :)

Great video essay! I've noticed a similar thing, where especially novice filmmakers hold the shot too long on their special effect because they want you to see the thing they put so much effort into. It destroy the pacing and cheapens the effect.

One of my favorite movies of all time. Probably one of the best films ever made. I was working at a movie theater when it came out and I saw it 10+ times on the big screen.

I hope Neil Blomkamp makes more sci fi movies. I really liked Elysium and District 9. And the Anthem cinematic was just very good it needs a whole story.

I thought this was going to be some video essay gushing about the CGI but it turned out to be the perfect level of gushing backed up with lightly technical insight about why it’s warranted. Great video!

This movie was BEYOND fantastic. The VFX were absolutely insane 💯💪🏻

It's crazy how the film's effects still hold up to this very day. Amazing achievement. Wasn't a fan of Neil's other movies but whatever he does in the future, District 9 will always be a true gem, a masterpiece.

I remember watching this movie, and being the one movie I really wanted to see a sequel to. It's super well executed, and it's a really good approach on how I think a first alien contact would look like if it were to really happen.

This is one of the most incredibly made videos I've ever seen. Props!

This is the only sci-fi movie that I wish had a sequel. I think it would be amazing if they even turned it into a TV series. The VFX and animation in this film are the best I've ever seen! I was blown away by how smoothly the VFX were animated, making everything look incredibly realistic.

It still looks like practical effects to this day. It blows my mind still.

One of my favorite films of all time. So well done.

According to me, one thing made these VFX stand out and it wasn't discussed in the video: the way they nailed the lighting. The lights on the aliens were so matching the real shots. They didn't feel layered as they do in most if not all other movies. They felt so integrated.

I felt so connected to this film when I was younger and I was a little upset when it seemed like my friends didn't take to it as much, this video fills that void of co-enjoying this movie!! Thanks

This is such a fantastic in-depth look at VFX and I always love when you realize how certain methods of using VFX comes down to budget or time constraints

dude this is such a fantastic insight, when talking about CGI being benal and not quite the center of attention. Which leads to CGI being out of frame, out of focus, or just not the center of attention for every shot is involved in. That is in fact what allows it to blend in so well.

Wow, stumbled on this. How do you only have 366 subs... keep up the good work and that'll change quickly!

I cannot believe a small channel would just steal a video from the hard working team at Nerdstalgic. Really, you should be ashamed of yourself. /s This is great work and really makes me appreciate the thoughtfulness of the movie's direction as well as the work of the VFX team. I hope you receive the algorithmic boost you deserve!

District 9 was awesome. You described the use of weapons very well, the grounded approach made it feel so real and actually made them seem more powerful than dramatized shots focusing on them would have. The weapons and the test sequence reminded me of Half-Life 2 in the best possible way.

I remember first seeing this movie in theatres when I was 10 years old, first rated R-movie experience. To this day District 9 remains one of my all time favorite movies

I think Forest Gump was the first film to put its massive amount of CG effects in the background. So much so that you don't even notice them. District-9 was a visceral, realistic, stressful movie that always makes me feel queasy when I watch it... But it's still one of the most amazing cinematic experiences that has been, to date, unrivaled. Blomkamp is a complete genius in my opinion.

this is such a good analysis and breakdown, i cant believe u dont already have thousands of subscribers!!! im glad to see ppl like u who also appreciate the film so much, thank u for making this awesome video!! hoping for district 10 soon🤞

This movie was alot of things, but for me it will allways be my first time seeing the amazing acting career of Sharlto Copley just blowing up, and the start of my journey in falling in love with this man's talent.

This was such a great in-depth breakdown of one of my favorite movies. Great Job!!

Still one of my favorite movies to date. Everything just clicks right in it from VFX to storytelling. I was blown away at the time how well Sharlto acted in the film, still am. The disgust, shock and glee all looked so natural in the environment. It's a bit of a shame that the performance didn't carry on that well to Elysium though. I really wish modern filmmakers would take a step back from today's CGI vomit to reassess the purpose of vfx. Star Wars or any Marvel movie are just a competition of who has the most bombastic setpieces and effects that ultimately undermine the whole punch of the effect since they're so overused. It's so tiring to be bombarded with pointless effects.

District 9 has hands down the most photorealistic CG effects ever in cinema.

One of my all-time favourite sci fi movies/films and as you describe it was ground breaking in so many ways. It deserves more recognition than it gets and totally outclasses all the 'superhero' stuff I am aware of.

Thank you very much for this fantastic evaluation of one of the greatest movies in the last 20 years or so. this is way underrated. And you gave us so much detail insights into the processes involved I learned so much stuff from you today. You did an amazing job. Subscribed...

This is one of the most increíble movies that never got enough recognition by the industry...but the ones who know about awesome visual effects and a good story love it.

Totally explains why I loved this film so much. The vfx felt so real compared to the other films.

Very cool! I loved District 9 when it came out. I remember it got fairly lackluster reviews and apparently a lot of people didn't like it. I couldn't understand why, it was such a unique film, and very well done. Knowing that they went to THIS level of dedication to get it made just makes it that much cooler.

CGY, thank you - for putting into brief and clear terms what's been itching the back of my brain for too long. Well done.

This was a great video man! Yeah I saw the Nerdstalgic video and frankly for all their plagiarism, they were foolish for cutting so much of what you bring up. There’s so much more value in this video and shows why we should more heavily respect the work that went into making District 9.

absolute masterpiece. i watch this when i was young and i cant understand why this movie looks so natural

Thanks for all the detail mate ! And yes, D9 is in my mind pretty important movie, not only from technical aspect but also from story telling where aliens are not slick techno lords, but more grounded and realistic affair.

So happy I was recommended this video. District 9 was a truly mind blowing experience. Not sure if people remember but the film had a pretty unique marketing campaign. The storytelling, the fact it was based in South Africa (not common for films released in the U.S.) and of course the VFX were all so incredible to me. Blomkamp really struck gold here. I like some of his other works but District 9 is, in my opinion, one of the finest sci-fi films ever made.

I love this movie so much. I also love that there's no sequel. There are too many sequels and remakes nowadays. District 9 doesn't need either.

9:00 You don't always have to paint like that. In fact most of the time you can track the shot/resolve the camera and replace multiple things in the background in 3d or even just in your compositing software. I also suspect that often the large aliens were simply positioned in a way that obscured the stand-in.

Great piece. I remember walking out of the theater when I saw D9 and immediately thinking, "Dayum. This movie is gonna be a big deal." I love that Neil has stuck to his guns, but it's a bit sad that he hasn't gotten as much recognition as I would've thought. It seems he got tired of the Hollywood system pretty early and dipped out to do OATS Studios stuff on KZfaq. Can't wait to see what he does next. Seems his best work comes from places faaar away from the filmmaking industry at large.

This movie has stayed with me since the first time I saw it in the theater. Thank you for this video!

Great video :) I'm a 3D sculptor myself so I do have a a basic understandig of SFX work but you summed it up perfectly. You should definitely have more subs than you do! Keep up the good work, I hope youget many more subs in the future :)

I remember watching this when it came out and whatever it was that I expected the movie to be, it was much, much better. The documentary style caught me off guard and I remember that the movie really got to me. It gets so intense with the way the aliens are treated. his transformation, etc. Fantastic film.

imagine if they made a half life movie using the same methods but with more modern tech and rendering software. would look immaculate.

District 9 is one of my favorite movies ever, because of everything you said in your video. I love Alien and Alien Invasion movies. And I absolutely loved how they approached this topic in this movie. It was something I've never seen before in this genre and therefore very refreshing. What really shocked me, was that they just had a budged of 30 million dollars. I did not know that. The movie looks and feels like a 100 million dollar movie. This is, what an Alien movie should be like. In contrast, Battle of Los Angeles (2011) to me is everything an Alien Movie should not be like. Every shot with aliens is hectic and blurry. When I was watching the movie I was constantly trying to get a better picture of the Aliens and their technology, but the movie was the entire time just like: "Nope!" (The landings on the beach were impressing tbh)

It's an awesome work, not very often we see CGI characters interacting with real stuff (like in Jurassik Park, or here the scene of the alien chopping the bunch of meat, etc), shows a lot of work and dedication.

One of my favorite movies of all time. Absolutely blew my mind when I saw it in theaters back in high school.

i always hoped that neill blomkampt would do star wars i had my fingers crossed, all his movies are great, a visual treat and very realistic.

This definitely feels more coherent than the clone nerdstalgic made that I saw first. Thanks for calling them out - its thanks to your callout that I now came across this one and can give credit where it's due!

What a thorough and intelligent presentation. I subscribed on the strength of this one video.

Did anyone else experience the brilliant public poster marketing for this film? Where I lived, they bought ad space in public areas & public transport (big posters within the vehicles, the big signs by outside benches & waiting areas, etc.). The posters they used were identical to the public signage we see in the film: "Human Only," with the big drawing of a prawn shape inside a 🚫, etc. (With the only difference being small text at the very bottom with info about the upcoming film, something you could only read by choosing to step up close to the sign & really stare at it for a moment. Point being, the text at the bottom did not interfere with how realistic the ad was...the only reason you could tell it was an ad (versus the actual signage that filled spots nearby) was because obviously the aliens not allowed on the bus with you didn't actually exist.) It was so cool. It was so long ago, I was a kid, and I couldn't tell you anything else about those specific days, like where I was even traveling on those bus rides...yet I remember the posters so clearly. (They are also the only movie posters I can even recall seeing out in the world.) Not only did it look super realistic and made you feel like you were suddenly in the film's environment, but it also left so much to the imagination and made you wonder what the film was actually about...the sign only gave you the outline of the alien, because it was designed the same as humans in public signs: 🚹🚺🚻🚯🚷 So it made you wonder what the aliens actually looked like in the film, and exactly how they were living in human cities. All of the possibilities my brain could conjure were unique to any alien movie at the time - and even still today! Obviously, they couldn't just be standard alien enemies attacking earth (any alien invasion movie), because that could only lead to warning signs (or, if anything, ads about joining the military). The setting couldn't be on the opposite end of the spectrum either, with the aliens totally incorporated into human society....or, the aliens hidden from human society, only known by a select few (like E.T). It couldn't be about the beginning of one of these situations either. Almost all alien movies are about the first contact between the aliens & our main characters, whether the alien character(s) are friendly or foe. (All the other movies I can think of that don't feature first contact are a couple of alien invasion movies about a war that's already been going on.) Somehow, in this movie's setting, everyone already knew about the aliens, but didn't like them...the aliens must pose some kind of issue, but they couldn't be too much of a threat - or else they would be killed & actively fought by people. _(The government wouldn't bother creating signs saying "aliens aren't allowed on this bus," because they'd be at war & everyone would know it...kind of like how "no dogs allowed" signs may exist, but I've never seen a sign telling everyone "no grizzly bears allowed on board" lol.)_ IDK, the ads were as awesome as they were simple. I'll never forget it! The design was genius marketing for the film, and even genius in terms of maximizing their budget...Actually producing the posters would be super basic (just text & a basic "drawing") and there weren't a bunch of different designs. I have yet to see any other movie marketing campaign take the same route - using a sign from the film's setting and incorporating it into the poster in such a way that transforms the environment into the film's setting...instead of turning the environment into just the same environment but with another ad in it. (Like, instead of sitting on a bus with a movie poster on the wall, I find myself sitting on a bus that exists within the movie's setting.) _(Obviously, few movies could pull this off to begin with, so I'm not trying to criticize every other marketing campaign for not having similar posters.)_ */End ramble* sorry 😅✌ Just something I randomly remembered while rewatching this video, and I started wondering how many cities got this ad campaign & if anyone else remembered seeing these signs.

Glad I didn't bother with that other video YT was pushing on me until I learned about this one. Great stuff! That mech combat scene was just the best such thing in any movie ever and I agree it was infuriating that he just wasted it like that. I hope we get more like it some day...

Awesome video. Can't believe they actually managed to pull this off so long ago. Was the first movie I snuck into at the cinema underage lol.

Awesome analysis: Thanks for such usefull and interesting insight!

Very informative! Really appreciate since I was just wondering how they got the fx looking so well on such a low budget.

CGY, this was one of if not the best videos I’ve ever seen on KZfaq, no exaggeration. You are out here making excellent content that has sparked curiosity in a subject I’d otherwise rarely think twice about. I’m absolutely loving your content and find my self taking twice the length of the video to finish to because I’m so busy reading about the topics discussed every 2-4 minutes. Just amazing and fun at the same time. Never stop!

This is one of my favorite movies. Thank you for this unique observation about it.

Absolutely awesome content. District 9 is one of my all time favourites.

Fun fact: the original Halo movie was originally going to be created in District 9’s place, but due to funding/mgmt, it was placed on indefinite hold and District took its place.

Excelente análisis mi amigo, me impresiona que tengas tan poquitos subs. District 9 es una de mis películas preferidas y te agradezco mucho por el video. +1 Sub

Love District 9! The realism of the style immediately impressed me, though I didn't know all that much about what went into it. Thanks for the detailed info! Another film that's a bit like this, only in the 3D animation arena, is Surf's Up. When I first watched that one (it was on a flight), my jaw dropped because I'd never seen CG animation done in that casual documentary style before. I spent most of the film not concentrating much on the storyline because I was trying to figure out how they'd managed it. When I later heard people dismiss it as "oh god, not another penguin movie", I was kind of surprised. Why hadn't they noticed how different and clever it was? I was a bit baffled.

I think the only thing i would say is the mech suit part at the end is a little wrong, the machine on autopilot didnt make a mistake, it was so cool and calm (obviously) using the weapons flawlessly, as it should. But the moment Vickus gets in and has the human element, he messes up, he doesnt use the bullet stopping field, he doesnt use his re-usable electric harpoon. he uses the guns and uses them sloppily, i assume cause its on both his hands so its easy, its SUPER great in showing that he doesnt know what he's doing but because he has the OP weapon, he doesnt have to. And I love that. He doesnt know how to fight tactically, he doesnt know how to optimally use an alien super weapon, he's Vickus, and Vickus is going to give it his best, even if that means its not very good. But I love the way it shows it all. Awesome video!