I kind of have mixed feelings about D9. On one hand, I felt it was fairly entertaining (although I wouldn't say I was gripped); on the other, I thought it was disappointing based on the potential it had.

I guess it had a lot to do with the characterisation, or lack thereof. Van de Merwe was pretty much unlikeable until the end, but by that point the film had descended into cliche and I was no longer that interested in the ending. The other characters were very poorly drawn - usually they amounted to lip-snarling bad guys with no other dimension. After just seeing The Hurt Locker, with its array of flawed heroes, it seemed amateurish.

I wasn't too keen on the faux-documentary style either. I think to go down that route, it either has to be all documentary or all properly filmed. A mixture doesn't really work.

Finally, and probably my biggest disappointment, was the allegory. The best Sci-Fi is usually allegorical, but this didn't seem fully realised in the film. I thought it had a lot of potential to use its sci-fi trappings to say something about the human condition; instead it had a guy in a robot suit shooting things.

There are a lot of positives - I'd never say it was a bad film - but I thought I'd focus on the problems I have with it. Overall: decent, but definitely over-rated.