9 (2009)

There is something to be said about all things post-apocalyptic. Even though occasionally, there exist some stories that have the hopeful idea that mankind will evolve beyond its basal self and ignore or totally circumvent the need for utter and complete annihilation, most times storytellers take the route that we as the human race, will pull the plug on ourselves. Sometimes even when things start out as some idea to help the world.

This is also the reason why in '9', the world has gone completely to hell. All biological life seems to have gone, seemingly destroyed in a complete and utter nightmarish example of when we take warfare too far. Not to put a finer point on it, but the end of the world displayed here, is remarkably similar to that of the Terminator-franchise. I know it is rather hip and trendy to suggest and expanded universe, but if Terminator happened somewhere around the Second World War, this makes a lot more sense than it should. If you do not believe me, you need to see this film right away.

It is probably well known that '9' had its origins as a silent short and then expanded into this. Not a long film by any stretch, because it barely reaches the 80 minute mark, but it is a lot more to do than in the original ten minutes or so. On occasion, this shows, because the storyline is really very bare bones. After the global demise, the only thing that remains of the human race is in these types of ragdolls and there is a mechanical nemesis and all in between, some rather heady concepts of transmutation of the soul and a little of the old occult magic.

Feeling confused yet? Good. Because if you want any sort of explanation, this film will not offer it.

Well, it does, in a way. But the slightly funky and floaty new age lore that floats throughout it all is by far not the reason to see this film, nor is it any reason to skip this one entirely.

The casting has some pretty big names, with Elijah Wood, John C Reilly, Martin Landau, Christopher Plummer, Crispin Glover and Jennifer Connelly leading the pack. Considering there are only about seven characters that only speak, there is not much room for others. They all do their jobs decently, but there is the idea that lesser known names would have done an even decent job. But this draws more people, I presume. It is a shame though, because besides for Plummer and Landau, none of the other ones really stick out. Sure, they all have different designs which is supposed to make it all easy on us to recognize every doll, but they look so alike that they might as well have been interchangeable. Landau and Plummer have the best dialogue, what little there is. Chalk it up to experience, then. It says a lot when to me, the most interesting doll characters are the twins that do not speak, yet communicate by projecting images through their eyes. It is a fun trait and it works well. I understand why this film started as a silent short, because again: dialogue is often superfluous.

You might get the idea I do not like this film.

You would be wrong in assuming that.

Sure, the story is threadbare and nothing we have not seen before, but by far the biggest reason to see this is the overall design. It is glorious. There are only a handful of films that convey a sense of destruction and desolation to a T and this is one of them. The wreckages of cars and buildings, the few human remains there are to be seen, the grimy surroundings all have that sense of dread and at the same time beauty. This is no easy feat to pull off, because you can easily swing too far either way. This one sticks nicely to a gorgeous balance. Especially the lighting works great.

Another thing is that this film is fairly gruesome and scary in parts. So if you were expecting a nice, homely film to watch with your small children, I am pretty convinced they will get nightmares. This is not Kansas, it is not even the land of Oz.

The ending does leave something to be desired, because it does come rather abruptly and is a little too religiously silly, but it is a small flaw on a film that is all about the visuals. If you like your eyecandy, even if it is rather grimy and doomy, then this is one to check.