Thanks for checking out our 9 review. If you’d like to see the video version of our 9 review you can catch it at the bottom of this post.
Shane Acker had his stint as a visual effects animator on “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” as the most prominent career moment, until now. Now his story of 9 is in theaters under his direction and produced by none other than Tim Burton. Was it a successful venture for him? Well… yes and no.
THE GENERAL IDEA
The synopsis for 9 reads something like this: “When 9 first comes to life, he finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world where 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.”
THE GOOD
As one could tell from the trailers (and thankfully didn’t disappoint in the least) 9 is simply visually stunning. The environments, characters and animation are all breathtaking to look at. The harsh post-apocalyptic word that Acker creates is tangible to the audience. Bleak and fearsome, cold and despair inducing. But more than a sense of horror, the world 9 shows us brings out a bigger sense of sorrow. Sorrow over a world wasted. This is exactly what he was going for, and it is exactly what it gave us.
The direction of this film is beautiful. The pacing and “cinematography” (I know some people don’t like using that phrase when it comes to animated films, but that’s exactly what it is), the beats and shot selection all come together in beautiful harmony. The job of the director is not to create a story… but rather to tell it in the best possible way it can, and Acker did that. I very much look forward to his next effort.
THE BAD
Unfortunately, as visually beautiful and well directed the film is, the story is by far its biggest weakness. It’s difficult to go into any detail because it would give key plot points of the film away, but there are some huge logic gaps and plot holes in this film that frankly make no sense whatsoever. The ending of the film, instead of answering major questions brought up by the film, only serves to confuse the issues more and at moments directly contradicts itself.
One of the major inconsistencies in the film seems to be its message. One the one hand it seems to be yet another movie in the long line of “be careful of how reliant we become on technology or it could turn on us” films… but then at the same time the story revolves around a magical talisman that takes souls. It was frustrating to wait until the end of the film to see how they would remedy this contradiction, only to find they take the error to the next level. That statement may not make much sense to you right now, but you’ll see what I mean if you watch the film.
In the words of a fellow film pundint: “You can tell this was a short film that was just not ready to be stretched into a feature”. How true that statement is.
OVERALL
9 is a magnificent film visually in terms of effects, animation and the direction of the on screen action. However, even though the story is TOLD well, the story itself was weak and filled with holes that left me and some others frustrated. Still, overall a generally enjoyable experience but one you may do well to just wait for on DVD sometime. I give 9 a 6 out of 10.
You can see the video version of our 9 review here:
First of all, I give 9 a 9 out of 9. Also, i liked the way that it was different because its not all about a hero who’s going to rescue the girl from the evil clutches of the MACHINE. actually 7 is a pretty butt-kicking heroine. also i like 6 because he’s loopy and creative, sometimes i feel that way too. like i know i’m right but no one listens to me because they think theyre right. oh yeah, pet peeve time. STOP CALLING 5 6 AND 6 5!!! LIKE, IVE SEEN COMMENTS SAYING, ‘OH 6 AGREED TO HELP 9 SAVE 2.’ AND ‘I LIKE THE END WHERE 8 IS HOLDING 5’S HAND WHILE THEYRE WALKING TO THEIR GRAVES’. SHUT UP!!! 5 AGREED TO HELP 9 SAVE 2, AND AT THE END, 8 WAS HOLDING 6’S HAND WHILE THEYRE WALKING TO THEIR GRAVES!!! OKAY?? GET IT??? thanks.
Does anyone know what the story was intended to be like? I enjoyed the movie but would like some answers.
What was the point of the talisman in the first place? It only gives life to the beast and sucks up peaces of the scientist’s soul. If the talisman hadn’t been there the end result would have been better as the only remaining beast was rather easily defeated.
Would have made more sense if eventually all 9 were sucked up and than automatically dispersed over the world. Putting the soul back into the earth. Now only just over half of 1 soul got dispersed. Maybe dispersal of all 9, some rain, ending with some little plant popping out of the ground symbolizing the start of an new life-cycle would have been much better and would make sense.
BTW amazing how quickly they managed to walk what must have seemed like vast distances for those little dolls.
Also at the end “It’s what we make of it.”. How can only 4 of those dolls with incomplete souls be the future of life on earth. And how is something like procreation gonna work?
While the ending of 9 kinda left me with the feeling of, “That’s it?” I really enjoyed the film quite a bit. Something I did notice was the book held up by the scientist in the recorded video and/or flashback. It had “Transmutation Vitalus”(or a close varient) which had me believing they had used Alchemy to transmute souls into stitchpunks/machines. Just though it might help explain the mystery behind that talisman. (I hope no one considers this a spoiler)
I LOVED this movie and I can’t understand why people don’t. An amazing film, 9/10
Good review. I pretty much had the same thoughts.
you give it an upside down 9 out of 10
I agree there are holes in the plot. I liked the answers given by “going back to the source”, but from that point on I was disappointed. I would have liked to see the soul join the intellect, instead of kill the intellect and free the soul. I would have liked to see 1 through 9 get sucked up and the machine (intellect) reunite with it’s own soul.
I just can’t work up any interest in this one, even with Tim Burton’s name attached.
People who don’t like using the word “cinematography” when it comes to animated films haven’t seen what the Japanese have been producing for decades.
Bleach?
^ lol, but seriously tho, rik has a great point. a lot of modern anime films have been known to have amazing cinematography: perfect blue for example
Oh no I wasnt being sarcastic, i like Bleach, I just dont know what movies hes talking about. I was legitimately suggesting Memories of Nobody
HAHA now that I think about it, that comment did sound sarcastic xD pretty funny too.
Sorry Rik lmao
I haven’t seen Bleach but a good example is Grave of the Fireflies. As a big brother I find it hard to watch, but it is beautiful. P.S – it did sound sarcastic, but thats cool.
I just cant think of any animated movies other then Memories of Nobody and that DragonBall movie from 2000
Never heard of the ones you guys brought up.
I liked Bleach though…
“Bleach?” lmao
I hate plot holes. They can single-handedly drag down a whole movie for me, like the 3rd Harry Potter film.
John, i gotta ask, wat kinda mic r u using? every video review i watch, theres always this orb at the bottom of the screen
It’s called the Snowball. Great mic.
question…
Is it worth seeing on the big screen?
I would say so.. the visuals are thrilling.
I think so too. Visually groundbreaking movies merit a trip to the theater for me. Good or bad, it sure is fun to look at on the big screen.
I can vouch for this. =]
SIX!?
Did we watch the same movie? I thought it was fantastic.
OH I could discuss he ending but it would ruin it!! I thought the ending was the best part! I fucking cried in that scene!
That scene had such a great message, the soul sucking machine was self explanitory, its the future, that can always answer most questions about their technology, but thats not even remotely close to what the message of the story is. It was near damn perfect IMHO
The part where 8 holds 5s hand while walking to the grave was extremely touching to me. that scene fucking GOT me
Great review though! I agree 200% with your 3rd and 4th paragraph
=]
lol you are a softy, so sweet. Do you think that 1 through 9 are different aspects or archetypes of the “soul” that resides in each of us? 9 hero, 1 king/ruler, 2 sage/wizard, 3 & 4 inner child/innocent, 5 friend/side kick/ confidant, 6 rebel/ crazy/ intuitive, 7 mother/ protector/ lover, 8 bully/ go-along/ obedient, 9 hero.
Thank you =]
Thats exactly what I suppose it is, but it goes deeper then that.
Sure, 8 was a bully and a bit of a dick, but in the inside he was a good friend and a companion, the last scene explained that.
Same with 1, although he seems selfish at times- he only does this to protect others…we also see this at the end. I love how these characters wherent so black and white
But this mustn’t be confused as a conclusion that 8 and 1 where “good” or that 5 wasnt bad.
No matter how good 5 was, he wasnt exactly willing to save his best friend. Even though I think 5 was sweet. But these characters have a great sense of realistic balance to them.
And the villains where twistedly sinister. I mean…jesus…
They made a bird out of scissors, a rebel flag, their skin and a human skeleton
Johnz in my head, readin my thots!
Spot on review. Walking out, my gf said “I don’t understand the message” and I said “Yeah, that was confusing. It felt like they didn’t add anything to the short except for some action scenes and a lot of awkward pauses.” And I also said regardless, I look forward to Acker’s next effort.
My only quibble is I think the 6 is a little high. Visually, owns. But I can’t give a 6 just on visuals.
6 OUT OF!?!? Wow, I wasn’t looking forward to it, but wow.
I thought it was amazing. Go check it out.
A part from the visuals and the direction, what did you think of the voice acting in the movie?
The voice acting was good. Somewhere between Dreamworks (distracting big-name actors) and Pixar (excellent voice casting). HOW everything was said was fine… its just WHAT they said that left a lot to be desired.
As soon as you said “some people think that if a story’s not good then the directings not good” and then said it’s not the case, you could tell that you were eventually gunna say that the story sucked.