“When our world ended their mission began.”
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Director Shane Ackner was nominated for an Academy Award back in
2006 for his animated short of the same name. Now, four years later,
Ackner has received backing from visionary directors Tim Burton and
Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch and Day Watch), and has churned
out a feature length version of his beloved creation, 9.
Since I’ve never seen or even heard of Ackner’s original short, I can
only assume that this version has been force-fed loads more money,
and beefed up with more plot points, character development, and
startling visuals. And, if that’s all that’s been added to the source
material, then the filmmakers have succeeded in their mission.
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The film begins when 9, a makeshift rag doll, awakens to find himself
in a scrap heap devoid of human existence. He soon realizes that
there are eight others who closely resemble himself - each with a
number plastered on his/her back - and quickly he’s thrust into a
number of haphazard encounters and confrontations in a race to save
what remains of life on the planet.
Coming in at a lean 79 minutes, 9 is visually daring and stunning to look
at. Set in a post apocalyptic world, Ackner’s narrative revels in the
charred industrialist remains of a civilisation that was wiped out by its
own inventions. With respectful nods to James Cameron’s Terminator
duet, Ackner’s song features the same cynical disposition, and by this
token it remains elusively prophetic. While it only tinkers on the
repercussions of man’s allegiance to technology, and the subsequent
betrayal of this volatile relationship, it’s great to see these kinds of
observations in an animated film.
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With Burton and Bekmambetov on board as producers, Ackner was
able to attract some truly wonderful performers. Elijah Wood provides
the vocals for the lead character, 9, and Christopher Plummer,
Jennifer Connelly, Crispin Glover, John C. Reilly, and Martin Landau
round out the rest of the cast. All of them deliver excellent
impersonations.
It seems to be the season for end of the world yarns, with 2012 raking
it in at the box office, and the critically acclaimed adaptation of
Cormac McCarthy’s The Road soon on its way. 9 is certainly a breath of
fresh air within the realm of animation, touching on some really
profound truths that are pertinent in the world today.
My only gripe is that the film’s plot seemed to be driven by a series of
confrontations, whereby one action sequence would invariably lead to
another, with very few moments of pathos in between - the ending
was an exception, and was endearing to say the least. This process
quickly became monotonous and dull, but the fact that 9’s duration
didn’t exceed 80 minutes was definitely something that was agreed
upon with great skill. So, if you love post apocalyptic films as much as I
do, then you’re in for a visual feast.
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