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 9 Machines vs. Humanity (again!)
Whether intentional or on purpose, nine seems to be 2009’s most popular number… at least at the movies, anyway. Having already seen the release of a movie called $9.99, and another called District 9, we are far from through with the last of the single digits. The next two films to be released both share the same title, so it could really get confusing from this point. A few months from now the number will make its Oscar bid with a splashy musical starring Daniel Day Lewis, but the cleverest release timing award goes to this 9, an animated sci-fi adventure released to theaters on 9/9/2009.The back story is very familiar. Apparently not heeding the warnings presented in films like The Terminator and The Matrix, mankind has puts its ego to the test and constructed the ultimate, god-like machine. Inevitably, the machine turns on its creators and ends up destroying all living creatures on the planet. In a last-ditch effort to save humanity, the same scientist who created the “Great Machine” creates a set of nine ragdolls and gives them the spark of life, while at the same time filling each of the nine with a part of his own soul: the element he believed was missing from his previous invention. |
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The film opens after the apocalypse, when the ninth of these inventions is awakened and ventures out into the devastated post-war landscape. He soon finds himself in the company of eight others like him, who have been living in hiding from the mechanical beast who still roams the wasteland. When one of the nine is taken captive by the beast, 9 decides that he must save him, despite the warnings of 1, the elder leader of the group. While on his rescue mission, 9 inexplicably awakens an even greater danger than the beast and now these nine creations find themselves fighting to save not only themselves, but humanity in general.9 is based on director Shane Acker’s 2004 short film of the same name. In that film, the focus was strictly on the character of 9 as he used his wits to battle the beast. With the exception of a flashback that includes 5, the rest of the characters are only hinted at. In the feature adaptation, we are introduced to all nine characters and they are also given the recognizable voices of actors like Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, and Christopher Plummer. The addition of voices weakens the feel of the movie a bit, but I can see how it would be a necessary sacrifice to increase the film to feature-length… even if it only barely qualifies at about 80 minutes. The creativity of the original short is evident in the film, in particular in the creation of the various creatures put together by the great machine. Like the way in which the nine must assemble their weapons and devices, the machine is also forced to creatively use the war-torn remains of human civilization to create its mechanical army. The most fascinating of these creatures is called “The Seamstress,” a rattlesnake-like creature that uses the remains of a captive to lure and hypnotize its prey before wrapping them with thread and engulfing their paralyzed bodies.Although the movie is visually impressive and action-packed, it never really captured my imagination to the point where I was swept up in the action. Once you get past their unique look, you realize that the characters are little more than your typical clichéd group of characters and the basic plot is something we’ve seen time and again and it doesn’t really bring anything new to the party; nonetheless, I did like the idea of the scientist attempting to save the human soul despite the inevitable death of the human race.The film is worth seeing for its creative visuals, but you might be satisfied by just checking out the original short.