Post by Eric T. Jones on Sept 9, 2009 22:01:03 GMT -5
RATING (0 to ****): **1/2
For the few who went to Mike Judge's and Don Hertzfeldt's third "Animation Show", one of the best shorts screened was Shane Acker's "9". In my original ***1/2 write-up, I had said "Acker produces a highly imaginative animation like that of Tim Burton's, but with a more serious and darker tone. Its post-apocalyptic environment brought reminders of 'Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within' to this viewer, and it's just as mesmerizing."
The much-anticipated and highly-advertised feature version, which if most multiplexes are like mine may already be in serious box office trouble due to title confusion with "District 9" (as if the upcoming musical "Nine" wasn't already part of the chaos), does maintain the same dark, serious atmosphere. And it is darned creative.
While the original 10-minute short was happy with just the characters 9 and 5, in a world that highly suggested they were the only two living things left, this feature version introduces us to everyone else. When 9 is awakened in his creator's lab, he is unable to speak. He doesn't go too far outside before he almost kills 2, "a friend"... and a mechanical monster with a cat's skull. The film provides us with some surprisingly good scares, but after some time, you realize that's all this film version of "9" essentially is:
Rescuing comrades and fighting another mechanical monster. Which wouldn't be a problem if the characterization weren't so weak. Conceptually, they're all there:
-9 (Elijah Wood) is his creator's masterpiece, a well-rounded leader who is still very capable of making mistakes (in a Hollywood rarity, 9 actually takes responsibility for his actions from the get-go)
-2 (Martin Landau) is, by his number, one of the earliest creations and has the willpower but not the strength to fight
-5 (John C. Reilly) is 9's new best friend after 2 is taken by the cat-monster, and had his eye taken out in the war between man and machines, before machines successfully made mankind extinct by poisonous gas. He tells 9 that he's a lot like 2, in the perfect explanation of himself: "You're not scared when you're supposed to be."
-6 (Crispin Glover), the insane one of the bunch who keeps drawing mysterious symbols. (no, in this film, 6 is not afraid of 7)
-1 (Christopher Plummer), donning priest's clothing, is the oldest of the bunch and though a leader, his idea is to keep everyone else in their safe haven. Anyone who dares to leave is essentially dead from his point of view
-8 (Fred Tatasciore), the big, dumb brute who acts as 1's loyal henchman
-3 and 4, mute twins who can do cool stuff like project film, turn to the right pages in books, and operate an old phonograph to play "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" to strengthen the drama at the appropriate point
...and finally 7 (Jennifer Connelly), one of 1's "dead people", a bona-fide badass who seems to be the only one capable of destroying mechanical beasts.
If you've seen the film's excellent trailers, you've seen the best versions of the film, the original short included. Given that it takes place post-extinction with the machines as the primary antagonists, you'd be right in assuming the story is a disappointment. At a mere 72 minutes, the film gets the atmosphere and the action just right, but none of it ever reaches its full potential since the characters never do.
Taking a cue from the original short, this feature-length version should have been even darker, or at least left more time in the writing room to develop its characters and come up with a more interesting story. There's much potential, as there were in this year's many disappointing animated films.
For the few who went to Mike Judge's and Don Hertzfeldt's third "Animation Show", one of the best shorts screened was Shane Acker's "9". In my original ***1/2 write-up, I had said "Acker produces a highly imaginative animation like that of Tim Burton's, but with a more serious and darker tone. Its post-apocalyptic environment brought reminders of 'Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within' to this viewer, and it's just as mesmerizing."
The much-anticipated and highly-advertised feature version, which if most multiplexes are like mine may already be in serious box office trouble due to title confusion with "District 9" (as if the upcoming musical "Nine" wasn't already part of the chaos), does maintain the same dark, serious atmosphere. And it is darned creative.
While the original 10-minute short was happy with just the characters 9 and 5, in a world that highly suggested they were the only two living things left, this feature version introduces us to everyone else. When 9 is awakened in his creator's lab, he is unable to speak. He doesn't go too far outside before he almost kills 2, "a friend"... and a mechanical monster with a cat's skull. The film provides us with some surprisingly good scares, but after some time, you realize that's all this film version of "9" essentially is:
Rescuing comrades and fighting another mechanical monster. Which wouldn't be a problem if the characterization weren't so weak. Conceptually, they're all there:
-9 (Elijah Wood) is his creator's masterpiece, a well-rounded leader who is still very capable of making mistakes (in a Hollywood rarity, 9 actually takes responsibility for his actions from the get-go)
-2 (Martin Landau) is, by his number, one of the earliest creations and has the willpower but not the strength to fight
-5 (John C. Reilly) is 9's new best friend after 2 is taken by the cat-monster, and had his eye taken out in the war between man and machines, before machines successfully made mankind extinct by poisonous gas. He tells 9 that he's a lot like 2, in the perfect explanation of himself: "You're not scared when you're supposed to be."
-6 (Crispin Glover), the insane one of the bunch who keeps drawing mysterious symbols. (no, in this film, 6 is not afraid of 7)
-1 (Christopher Plummer), donning priest's clothing, is the oldest of the bunch and though a leader, his idea is to keep everyone else in their safe haven. Anyone who dares to leave is essentially dead from his point of view
-8 (Fred Tatasciore), the big, dumb brute who acts as 1's loyal henchman
-3 and 4, mute twins who can do cool stuff like project film, turn to the right pages in books, and operate an old phonograph to play "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" to strengthen the drama at the appropriate point
...and finally 7 (Jennifer Connelly), one of 1's "dead people", a bona-fide badass who seems to be the only one capable of destroying mechanical beasts.
If you've seen the film's excellent trailers, you've seen the best versions of the film, the original short included. Given that it takes place post-extinction with the machines as the primary antagonists, you'd be right in assuming the story is a disappointment. At a mere 72 minutes, the film gets the atmosphere and the action just right, but none of it ever reaches its full potential since the characters never do.
Taking a cue from the original short, this feature-length version should have been even darker, or at least left more time in the writing room to develop its characters and come up with a more interesting story. There's much potential, as there were in this year's many disappointing animated films.