When 9 (The Lord of the Ring’s Elijah Wood) first comes to life, he finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world. All humans are gone, and it is only by chance that he discovers a small community of others like him taking refuge from fearsome machines that roam the earth intent on their extinction. Despite being the neophyte of the group, 9 convinces the others that hiding will do them no good. They must take the offensive if they are to survive, and they must discover why the machines want to destroy them in the first place. As they’ll soon come to learn, the very future of civilization may depend on them. –© Focus Features

For those of you who are not familiar with the history of 9, allow me to enlighten. The film is based on a short film by writer/director Shane Acker, which garnered an Oscar nomination. The short impressed both Timur Bekmambetov (The guy who directed Wanted) and Tim Burton (If you don’t know who he is then you’re at the wrong website) so much, that they both agreed to produce and get it made into a full-length feature.

I’m a huge fan of post-apocalyptic worlds and the thing I found exciting about 9 was that it’s a different type of post-apocalyptic world. It isn’t the familiar “man creates machine, machine turns on man, man kills machine.” In 9 it’s “man creates machines, bad machine kills man, good machine fights bad machine.” This is a scenario I’ve not seen in a film and I thought it was a great way of injecting new life into the scenario that I know and love.

Unfortunately, thats about the most interesting part of the plot. The rest of the film felt long (unusual since the film is 79 minutes) and seemed to drag to its eventual unsatisfying conclusion. Some strange gypsy voodoo magic seems to come into play at one point and really contrasts the realism that occurs up to that point. This magic is never explained and that bothered me.

The film is really an action film on the surface with hints at a deeper, more interesting drama underneath but I felt it never took the time to explain or delve deeper into the universe and that left me cold. It seemed like each conversation was just a bridge to the next action scene.

I also never felt any connection to the characters, nor did I fully understand why these rag dolls were able to talk, think, or move. The film pretty much just wants you to go with any unexplained occurrences and just be content with the visual feast your eyes are indulging in.

On the plus side, the film looks amazing visually and the voice cast puts in a solid effort on the film. I thought the entire cast fit their characters and were used effectively. The Danny Elfman score is a step up from some recent misfires he’s had but still not back to his Batman or Spider-Man greatness.

Overall I can say the film is worth seeing for the stunning visuals alone but for me personally, I needed more from the story and characters to actually care about anything I was seeing. Those looking for an interesting expansion of the short film or a satisfying narrative should look elsewhere.

Vactor’s Verdict: 7 out of 10

Categories: Fused Movies, Movie Reviews, Reviews

Tags: 9, 9 Review, Christopher Plummer, Crispin Glover, Danny Elfman, Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Martin Landau, Shane Acker, Shane Acker's 9, Tim Burton, Timur Bekmambetov