The Reel Rejects - DISTRICT 9 (2009) IS WILDLY COMPELLING!! MOVIE REVIEW!!

Episode Date: October 12, 2025

NEILL BLOMKAMP'S SCI-FI MASTERPIECE!! District 9 Full Movie Reaction Watch Along:   / thereelrejects   Start your online business with a $1 per-month trial when you visit https://www.shopify.com/rejects! Support The Channel By Getting Some REEL REJECTS Apparel! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Does it still hold up 16 Years later?? Greg & Aaron REUNITE to give their District 9 Reaction, Recap, Commentary, Breakdown, & Spoiler Review! From visionary director Neill Blomkamp, District 9 (2009) is a groundbreaking science fiction thriller blending documentary-style realism with explosive action and social commentary. Produced by Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings, King Kong), the film follows Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley – Elysium, Chappie), a bumbling government agent tasked with relocating aliens — derogatorily called “Prawns” — living in a Johannesburg slum known as District 9. What begins as a bureaucratic mission spirals into a shocking transformation after Wikus is exposed to alien biotechnology, forcing him into a desperate alliance with Christopher Johnson, one of the alien refugees. Featuring unforgettable moments such as Wikus’s horrifying physical transformation, the discovery of alien weaponry, and the climactic mech-suit battle against MNU forces, District 9 remains a modern sci-fi classic exploring xenophobia, segregation, and the nature of humanity. Also starring Jason Cope (Dredd, Chappie) in multiple roles, including Grey Bradnam and Christopher Johnson, and David James (Strike Back, Black Sails) as Colonel Koobus Venter. Greg Alba & Aaron Alexander react to, review, and break down the film’s shocking scenes, visual effects, and lasting legacy as one of the most acclaimed sci-fi films of the 21st century. Follow Aaron On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealaaronalexander/?hl=en Intense Suspense by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Support The Channel By Getting Some REEL REJECTS Apparel! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Follow Us On Socials:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/  Tik-Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@reelrejects?lang=en Twitter: https://x.com/reelrejects Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ Music Used In Ad:  Hat the Jazz by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Happy Alley by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... POWERED BY @GFUEL Visit https://gfuel.ly/3wD5Ygo and use code REJECTNATION for 20% off select tubs!! Head Editor: https://www.instagram.com/praperhq/?hl=en Co-Editor: Greg Alba Co-Editor: John Humphrey Music In Video: Airport Lounge - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ask Us A QUESTION On CAMEO: https://www.cameo.com/thereelrejects Follow TheReelRejects On FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & INSTAGRAM:  FB:  https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thereelrejects Follow GREG ON INSTAGRAM & TWITTER: INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/thegregalba/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thegregalba Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Aaron, are we to dive into this? Let's go, baby. damn that's tragic as shit what a freaking ending oh that's so tragic oh that's so tragic wow what a what a trip that was that was trans i was transported yeah man that was a stress before we started filming about some other bullshit that was going on and i just like swept me up man that was trans i was transported to a whole new world that was wild yeah one that's not you know too dissimilar from certain events but it's like the way that they were able to engulf you in this specific experience was was really impressive and really tragic as well

damn that was a heartbreaking time it was so mean and sad but felt human so I forgave it didn't seem like it was just sad for like sadness sake you know like it was so freaking uh damn thanks prepper for any down these highlights don't don't feature the c word and the highlights that's a bad bad word for youtube um apple spotify for listening to us we watch district nine yeah um Aaron um I wanted to ask first what was a what would you say was the thing that most surprised you about this experience and what was or like what was the most different than a what you thought before going into it um so the only thing i remembered oh yeah what was it that you remembered that he turned into an alien but i didn't remember any context like the ending shot i've had a vague memory of the ending shot but i had no context for i had no memory what the story itself was or how he became an alien or anything i just remember like shot to gobley becomes alien and that's this like the outline of my brain of what this movie was but all the stuff

in between the context had no uh nothing of that but watching it now it feels really scary it feels really sad it feels very topical um and is this a very unique experience because it's something that is so a ground level and yet is sci-fi like it is very much i don't want to say dark and gritty but like it is it is gritty to to the ground in the slum of sci-fi and the way they're able to capitalize on these things of you know humanity and society and and how we treat each other through the the lens of the story that is about you know these these aliens that didn't ask to to be here but we're here by circumstance and how they were mistreated not only by the government but also literally eaten

and then swindled into eating cat food and trading their resources for essentially scraps because they didn't know any better and yeah how they were manipulated it was just a really sad time for the most part but i like the at the core of the story it's about a really unlikable guy who is for lack of a better term xenophobic towards aliens and learns to appreciate them learns to treat them with a sense of humanity through literally becoming one of them. And yeah, it's just a really sad ending because, like, yeah, nobody really wins. I guess, you know, Christopher and his son gets to win and they go back, but all of these people are still on earth.

And it's more people that are left than what they stayed at the beginning. And it's sad that, you know, when the movie ends, that they were relocated, like how they stated at the beginning but knowing and seeing how that process was I'm sure so many of them did not make it in the process of that which makes it even more of a bummer but yeah I really

I don't even know if enjoys the right word but it just had so many different flavors from you know this bleakness to the badassness to you know you cheering for this guy who wants this better life for this father and son the fact that he sacrificed

his own champ at love so that this relationship can can thrive and have a future and yeah it was an ultimate act of selflessness i i really thought this was a unique film and enjoyed it for lack of a better term yeah what about you man uh i i was i was dazzled by it i think it's a beautiful experience in the most harsh kind of way because the movie kind of just takes hold of you and just freaking like we're watching this like lights on and everything and somehow I was like I feel like I'm literally wrapped in this world and it's just like holding me and shaking me the entire time yeah because it starts off in a way where they're it's mockumentary and or like journalism reporting style mockumentary it's not like the office or um that but uh it was until you pointed out to me like oh weird like we're in the perspective of the aliens and I don't think this is um shot like it's supposed to be the mockumentary part i was like oh yeah so i thought neil blomkamp did like this really great seamless job of going between it all where it never felt like stark or jarring in the way how the filmmaking styles will suddenly feel like this is a bit of a whiplash

because we're watching mockumentary and now we're watching movie you know like it's like it was a very specific type of style that he would do with the with the documentation aspect but then he would still keep it with this sort of it would be a little bit more polished but it would still be like handheld and the zooms and everything still felt like there was someone really involved and intimate and just very much like aggressively in your face and i love the kind of movies that are made where you can feel the weather where you can feel like the slumps you could feel the dirt on you you can feel the heat you know and And this was one that I think really provided that. Like you feel this like it's freezing in the room we're at right now, but you can feel the sweat of everything. So I like how there. Yeah, exactly. There's a there's a sensory aspect to it that I do find like incredibly immersive with,

with its handling while doing a story that is overtly about like segregation and xenophobia and immigration. and the fear of something we do not understand. And I like how it even poses the question in that way with doing like, you know, like immigrants, a.k. aliens. Now let's do a story of that. But let's make it actual, physical, like extraterrestrial beings, you know, and draw that correlation. And when you think about it, like so much of media in terms of like sci-fi stories,

whenever there's the big ship that comes down to Earth, we immediately assume they're here just to murder us, right? And like there's this movie, which came before you saw a rival. A rival like plays on that too, like, oh my God, are they here to murder us this big alien ship? And that's usually the portrayal. And it kind of gets my mind looking back of like, has that sort of like programmed us to sort of just think that like forward invaders

must be people here who are here to destroy us in some way. And as a human being watching this going, oh, yeah, I'd imagine that even in real life, as much as I'm here as an audience member, I'd like to imagine I'd eventually get past the whole like they are definitely some type of other being that is not human. It would take some acclamation. And I imagine I would feel like a bit of fear going like, what are these things? I'd be nervous. I'd be scared, you know. They're trying snakes, you know. I'd be scared to, but I, but I, I do like the, um, the way they draw the metaphor in a very clear way while keeping it surprisingly character driven.

Um, you know, like the, the, the human side, the journalism side is a character in it of itself. And they, they, they keep it very human driven with, uh, Charlottesoply's character. Because I, you know, like, his transition makes sense. Because even when we were there in the first act, where. he is you know mr ice enforcer guy we i think we were so back and forth with him because we could get a sense that i feel like there's like a good guy in you know you know like you clearly take an interest in them and it doesn't seem Nazi experimentation like with it even though sometimes you would do things you're like i guess maybe that's who he is i guess he's an asshole

like in that regard you know so i think they planted a seed in a way where it could have just been very predictable and how it goes from total asshole you know it could have been almost like borderline white saviory where total asshole repressive guy becomes the hero but i think that the movie kept it shaded throughout and it kept that tragicness and because it's r rated for more than the sake of the violence they keep it r rated and it's like ability to talk about sexuality its ability to talk about it to use language like curse words you know um like that's why i love the interaction that charlto copely would have with christopher because him using f words so flippantly as a part of his language uh in all kinds of situations is something you don't see in movies with human

interacting with extraterrestrial being in terms of just conversation you know so yeah i i i loved it. I thought it was, I thought it was a great film. It is like, it's not an easy watch though. Oh, no. It's not one I would like rewatch a lot. It's not a fun. No, it's not fun. No, it's far from fun. And it never even evolves fully into like the full, you know, action movie catharsis that you think it's going down. Like, oh my God, they're going to murder people. Yeah, let's go. It never fully becomes that. No. Like in terms of emotion. it still stays like nest up and sad you know yeah no and watching it i'm like what is the the thing that justifies this sort of premise right because i'm like i'm imagining it and i said it earlier in the movie like they're what if this movie was with humans right and you know we're living in a time which also makes it harder where things like this are kind of happening in america people are largely being displaced in volume and the thing i think

the thing that makes this uniquely sci-fi is the fact that he literally becomes one of the alien. Then he is put in the shoes of somebody who is being dehumanized as somebody who was the dehumanizer. And I feel like that's not something maybe you can

do with real people. But I think it was a great exercise in empathy and putting yourself in somebody else's position. And I also really love that the fact that they gave Christopher and like a very American English-based name to really humanize him to show that he's not so different from the people that are that are oppressing and trying to displace him.

Yeah. And yeah, I just think this did a great job. I think he also did a really great job of utilizing the documentary format to showcase the world building, like the fact that they eat cat food and then Nigerian people eat them to try to acquire powers and the fact that there's like prostitution with the aliens. like all the stuff that aren't pointing into the story least some of it but it colors in the world to make it feel more real and I appreciated that because yeah not not all information is necessary for your narrative but it does help make it feel as though these are people that are actually living in front of you in this grime in this very sad and sadistic world yeah and it does yeah and it does suck it's unfortunate well um yeah that's i thought that was an amazing film um yeah let's answer some questions from our patrons let's do it j rushden do you think movies theme is on changing your social class

or changing your opinion on people there um i think it's uh the theme is about um empathy yeah i think that's the theme is about communication and understanding more than it is about changing your social class or yeah it also allowing yourself to question where you might be perhaps xenophobic yourself in ways where you might not even recognize that you are being that way or you might be having a racial thought without realizing like oh I am actually having a racial thought I think a lot struggle with that and a lot of people are willing to admit when they are dealing with that you know and of course on the bigger scope championing for uh people's rights is the biggest thing of them all you know like i think on the micro that that's the former one i talk about the macro

it's it is about people's rights and not robbing them of it just because like human rights just because they're different and not from the same land we reside on yeah 100% uh i coheartedly agree with that and yeah i don't really see the thing about it being about changing your your social class but yeah treating people as people and regardless of where you're from in the circumstances and also it's about the importance of i think how things can be in especially in different forms of media can be taken out of context to really sort of drive a perception. And I feel like the documentary within the movie that kind of is the framework

where the story goes sort of did some of that as well because when we're brought out of the perspective of the doc that's being shot, we really get to see the, the humanity and the people that are the subjects of what this doc is. And I like that we, even though we're not in the framework of the doc, they still keep it in that sort of mockumentary style to show. show the grittiness of what this is and yeah i appreciated the movie a lot for that and i hope that um i don't know nothing not that i hope for a sequel but i hope that we are able to uh get some semblance of resolution and then maybe in some fantasy world are able to kind of expose some of those

things that uh can give us a fuller color of what it is that both people are experiencing both the aliens and then both the people and how they affect each other. Now, if you've been part of the Reject Nation for a while, you've probably heard us mention our site, RejectNation Shop.com, where you can get apparel such as this. Now, how did we build that site? Well, we did that with today's sponsor. Note, they were not our sponsor when we used them. Other note, we could have saved some Moolah if they were our sponsor then the way you can save Moolah through our link today. Shopify. We've been using Shopify since day one. We're not tech experts, so we needed something simple and powerful and made for creators like us. And that's exactly

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Build your thing. Share your passion. Start today with Shopify. Thank you Shopify for sponsoring this video. Kev B. I'm going to read your trivia first. It's fascinating that the lead actor at zero prior experience. And was originally just helping out behind the scenes. Holy crap. Charles Oakley? Really? Really?

He seemed like an incredibly experienced actor. He was amazing, yeah. The actor Jason Cope played all the speaking hands in the film, as well as providing the voice for the documentary narrator. Oh, nice. What do you think the movie is really trying to say about humanity and our treatment of the other, whether it's aliens, immigrants, or marginalizing? groups I mean we already kind of answered it yeah just saying do better like I love to spend more

time on it but we did pretty much already kind of go through that treat people with kindness and take more interesting curiosity as opposed to resorting to fear-based reactions yep do that more Tim Porkroll a lot of fans have been wanting a sequel to this movie despite the long gap now that you've seen d9 would you want a sequel or do you think it's better as a standalone film i think it'd be really good to get a sequel now as opposed to like right away from when it came out because it so much time has passed and you could see an evolution of the world and it's weird when immigration stories pop up now because we go it's so topical when i'm like looks like it's kind of been topical for fucking ever um it's just such a big

part of our current news cycle globally but especially here in the states and I think that's why we like respond that way like wow this is really topical relevant but it's it's it's been a struggle for a very long plus 15 fucking years ago you know yeah there's a reason why it was topical then it's topical now you know so I think it would be really cool though to see uh to see the evolution of what has taken place I think it would allow for something refreshing and and different you want a sequel? I would love a sequel, yeah. I think that to speak to what you said, the fact that it has been 15 years since this movie came out, I think you could set it in real time because, yeah, I would be curious to see how the world has changed since 2010 and how our main characters change in the time where he's been living amongst these other aliens and what kind of life he's been able to develop and does he even still want to be human after.

all this time has he built a new life for himself and is is co you know uh co living possible with humans and aliens will they want to leave or is it more complicated than that i'd be curious to explore all those shades and colors in a sequel yeah yes i think there's all you can do mark leach this is one of the films i've always hoped for a sequel and after so much time i think it's best to keep it as a standalone classic are there any plans to watch any of blom camp's other films uh like elysium is one i for sure sat through from beginning to end and i remember liking it i actually remembered that being one of the first things i reviewed oh um but i i i could uh i have like a vague image of like matt davin flip it out at someone with a and he's pointing a gun uh in terms

of narrative and uh topic and and what the fucking the plot of the movie movies in the beginning and I don't know so I'd be curious to watch it again I'd actually say the same for Chappie Chappie I remember being a defender of so I'd be curious to watch that again as well um but there's no current plans for for these uh but I don't know does it have you seen Elysium I've seen Chappie uh I have seen Elysium to my recollection I just remember Matt Damon's bald and he has a meck suit yeah and that's it yeah and I've never seen Chappie But I've been curious about it for years But yeah

I would be down You know See if you guys You show up Like what we We experienced here And you know Engage I think that

Maybe it's possible one day I know people didn't like those movies as much Really Chappie especially was really You know like District 9 I think is the only movie he did That was truly beloved But at least you almost like

I remember disappointment for people And Chapie I remember being a defender of in a time when everyone seemed to really rail against it. Interesting. I wonder why that is. And I wonder how you would feel now

watching it. Yeah. Oh, shit. I got what everyone was talking about. Alan Smithy, love District 9. How'd you guys like it? We liked it. Did you guys know this was originally

supposed to be the Halo video game movie? Yes, I remember right at the top. But Peter Jackson, Neil Blampcott, lost the rights to Halo before production started. So they used the alien and tech designs to create this. film instead. Blancamp also used some ideas from

Halo in his film Elysium. Like the Ring World Space Station concept. Interesting. I have no context for that. There's a... Okay. I'm so glad it turned out this way. Oh, I think I know

what the ring was that... Is that where like people, like rich people are living? I'm glad it's so turned out this way because this is not such a unique movie. Thanks, Aaron and Greg. Well, appreciate the fun facts. Residence Z. Shrimps.

Hope you guys enjoyed the movie. Quick question, what would you do if you saw that you were turning into an alien? Oh, God, that is a horror, man. Does it look like that? When I started turning how he turned, am I a different alien? I guess for the context of this, we're going to be talking about these aliens. That would be tough. That'd be real hard.

Well, there's something like that. bittersweet about that ending because he forms a connection and a true understanding and sees them as human so he he could have very well just offed himself but he chose to live as one of them instead yeah and so there is something kind of beautiful about it in a very tragic way um i don't know if i would have made the same choice i think i would have you know done some some deed. You would have wrapped it up? Yep.

Yeah. So why so for part to the Nigerian gang? There you go. Yeah. I, I, hmm. If there's other aliens around, I might, I might go and live with them. Because, yeah, I feel like I wouldn't be accepted in, uh, in a lot of part of the world.

So I'm like, all right, whoa, I'm going to have this new life and eat some cat food and try to get them to rebel and us getting, get us a better question. Quality of life. So bad. That's not so bad. Maybe we get some good, the good stuff, the good cat food. It's impossible. Clayton.

Out of these universes, which one would you rather live, survive it? Just your guy. Edge of tomorrow. Snowpiercer. Have you seen snow piercer? uh if i have i don't remember it i don't know anything but i know that the stars chris evans and that's about it i think i the basic plot is something to do with classism divide on a train i vaguely remember that i remember that chris evans and a train is society i

never saw it is it like society on a i don't know i don't know if they're just like traveling somewhere or if they literally live on a train now yeah they all sound bad so i'm going to go with I'm going to go with the edge of tomorrow because if you're not fighting in the military then you're just living on a regular person yeah if I'm like curious to live in a true sci-fi world I would say district nine because I fancy myself to be someone who would care to form a connection but if we're talking about like hey which one can I actually just live a normal life at just tomorrow yeah just stay away from that specific land yep you know I ain't trying to fight no death aliens and then be like Tom Cruise and just live over and over again.

I guess most people would just die. But District 9, I feel like because nothing, I feel like if it was District 9, nothing much would change because they're not in America. They're in Johannesburg. So the rest of the world is regular. Ah, the sequel is in America. That's right. It's going to get extra topical now. Yeah.

But, yeah, I'd probably go out of tomorrow just for, uh, transparency. I appreciate the transparency there yeah baby uh guys who would you write district nine do you want a sequel leave your thoughts down below thanks for being here thanks aaron for joining me on this uh very hearty adventure who see you guys soon reject nation peace so sus this