When 9 (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 in 9.
You don't expect to see tiny cartoon characters making their way through the fresh rubble of an apocalypse. This is the usual terrain of bulked-up warriors with big guns and dark pasts. But then almost nothing about the premise of "9" is expected. Creator Shane Acker has created a completely novel take on what happens after mankind triggers its own annihilation, and the sheer ingenuity of his vision is enough to overcome some fairly standard plot progressions as the movie spins forward. No matter what, this film dazzles. Acker, who expanded his 2005 Oscar-nominated short into this feature-length film, sets out with the same supposition as so many other doomsday sci-fi flicks: Eventually man will invent a machine that turns on its creator and wipes humankind off the face of the earth. This is common stuff.But Acker takes an uncommon approach. As his film begins, an old man is stitching together a burlap puppet of sorts, filling the body with odd cogs and bolts. A zipper in the front holds the puppet-creature together and a number is painted on its back: 9. The man collapses dead after an orb bathes the puppet in light. And when the puppet comes to life, it wanders outside to a ravaged cityscape, a new Dresden of crumbled buildings and junk. Fairly quickly 9 (voiced by Elijah Wood) runs into another creature of his ilk, with the number 2 (Martin Landau) on his back. But then the new friends are attacked: Apparently the robot menaces that wiped out mankind don't take kindly to little burlap critters either. And thus begins 9's introduction to life. A small (literally) society of his sort has already formed, including the rebellious 7 (Jennifer Connelly), disturbed 6 (Crispin Glover) and imperial 1 (Christopher Plummer). The good and bad of the human spirit is already manifesting in its last creation.
And this is where "9" takes not a wrong turn, but a series of familiar turns, becoming an action movie as our underdog numbers do battle with a giant menacing robot and its minions. It's fairly standard hobbit versus dark lord stuff, albeit presented via some startling animation. In many ways, the setup for "9" is so spectacular that it dooms the follow-through, which is perfectly fine, just not up to the film's initial genius. Still, "9" is innovative, inventive stuff, both visually and conceptually. The strange thing is it becomes less exciting when it gets to the exciting parts. But for those who've already succumbed to the film's magic -- and this is a film with magic -- that likely won't matter. "9" is a captivating film with much to say about the human spirit -- even if humans are nowhere to be found. This is a definite must see. Backed by Tim Burton, this is sure to be a classic. This gets a 4 on my "Go See" scale.
No comments:
Post a Comment