so, yes, i HAVE seen District 9.

don't get me wrong, basically i hate admitting that i watched a movie with such a big current hype around it. and most if all i usually don't do any reviews about them. but this time i'll make an exception. because of a major thing that i haven't experienced before: many, and i mean like 95% percent, of the people i stalk on the net (haha) haven written something very positive about this movie. sometimes only one sentence on twitter, sometimes a rather long vlog - but astonishing for me was the fact that even people who don't usually give reviews about movies said this one is awesome and it's ART.
this widespread reaction really got me and so i HAD to watch the movie as soon as possible and give my own opinion to you. if you're interested.

short prehistory
i live in germany and the cinema release of District 9 was to be set in middle of october. i couldn't find a good screener or anything alike, and you can amagine how dissappointed i was 'cause i REALLY wanted to see it, but had to wait 2 more months. plus i prefered the original dub, not a german dub.
lucky me i was in the position of see it BY ACCIDENT when i was in Hamburg last weekend where it was first shown to german audience as a part of a film festival! and of course in its original version! awesome!
stupid thing was: i noticed that much too late, so i could only get 2 tickets by pure luck, when some minutes before the film started 2 tickets were regiven, giving me the chance of spontaneously witness the screening!
major problem was: those were front row tickets. and hell, when this wasn't the BIGGEST cinema room i have ever been in! the room was extremely huge and the screen also. and me sitting - eh, lying - in the center of the first row. i had the worst possible angle to the screen you can imagine. i couldn't see much, the screen was distorted as hell. and that the film had much shaky camera work in it wouldn't help. gosh, i really got sick while watching the film from all the motion around me. and reading the few subtitles were also very hard for me, because i actually had to move my whole head from left to right in order to read it!

the film itself
well, yes, it IS brilliant. nearly everything of what is said about District 9 is right.
i usually try NOT to watch a movie with having great expectations, but in this case this wasn't really possible. but well, those expectations turned out to be correct. awesome!
story was top-of-the-arts, storytelling was individual. topic was great, too. and the actors were great.
the character evolvelment of the main character was WAY too quick to be realistic, but at least it was such great acting that it came up very believable.
the story/topic may not be new to sci-fi-fans - half of it it was some sort of rendition of Arthur C. Clarke's "Childhood's End", one of my all-time-favorite sci-fi-books - but at least it was new to the film market.
i often heard that this movie will change the genre of sci-fi forever, but let me tell you that THIS is NOT true. because its real innovations were not about sci-fi at all. like i said the sci-fi elements were quite old-fashioned. but all the other aspects about movie production, like financing the film, directing, the very special story-telling, the realism(!!) and the characters, and all that stuff - that all is the big deal about District 9. hence it will not change the specific genre of sci-fi, but the whole art of movie making in general! (but not as much as it would have changed sci-fi)

conclusion
watch it!
it is without question one of the greatest movies ever made and can without shame be listed with 2001, Matrix, Metropolis and such.
i can't really say what, but i miss something with this movie. i give it the mark of an A-, but don't ask me why.
maybe it was the strange visual perspective that keeps me from having a FULL opinion about it, but well, SOMETHING i am missing.
i will watch it again in a german cinema when the hype is ebbing. the german release has been preponed to the beginning of the next month, due to the great demand and its success. and most hopefully then i can complete my opinion about it.