Not to pass any more judgement on Elysium and Chappie than we already have, but the unique presentation of a found footage thriller, mixed with a compelling performance by then unknown Sharlto Copley, made for intriguing viewing.
Some directors make such brilliant debuts that they have a hard time measuring up to, much less surpassing, those initial efforts.
Director Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 is definitely one of those sorts of films, as his Apartheid allegory involving an alien race that’s been living among humans still stands as his best work yet.
However, the reason it stands out in a decade’s worth of genre material is because it was able to take a socially conscious subject and, without pretension or hamfisted intent, made a viably entertaining film out of it.