9

It is fair to say that if your short film wins you an Oscar, while at the same time turns the heads of both Tim Burton and Nightwatch director Timur Bekmambetov to the point where they want to back you in making it into a feature, then you’re likely harboring a talent that’s pretty special. It’s also fair to say you’re not pushing the bright and bouncy fare the likes of DreamWorks and Pixar. In fact this beautiful dystopic fantasy from former Weta artist Shane Acker, about a band of dolls made sentient during the final days of humanity, could almost serve as a dark funhouse mirror reflection of Toy Story.

A post-apocalyptic flight of fancy bubbling over with ideas and allegories, 9 offers a terrifying vision of the future, but one possessing an overriding message of hope. Somewhere on the not too distant horizon (or perhaps one from the past?) humanity’s great machines of war turned on us and we were wiped out. Fearing the worst, one scientist imbued nine stitched up creations with pieces of his on soul. Emerging from the rubble is #9 (Elijah Wood), the last of his creations, possessing a singular curiosity and will to unlock the riddle within and restore the spark of life to our decimated world.

With a retro-visual style, and a steampunk sensibility, Acker looks backwards in looking forwards with an aesthetic that defies conventional time and place. Looming industrial complexes pump columns of black smoke into the darkened sky as they manufacture diabolical mechanical monsters long after the last remnants of the human race have fallen. The bombed out neighborhoods and wreckage strewn streets, teaming with incidental detail and the scorched echo of life, recall images of Dresden, London, Baghdad.

Wandering the wilderness, confused, unfinished, and alone, #9 first encounters kindly but frail inventor #2 (Martin Landau) who is quickly snatched away by a nightmarish flying dog-like creature built of steel and bone. Rescued by the somewhat timid #5 (John C. Reilly), #9 discovers that he has companions, but that they exist as a fractured, conflicted group. Self-appointed leader #1 (Christoper Plummer), backed by #8 (Fred Tatascoire), his dimwitted, hulking enforcer, preaches inaction and survival, ordering that they wait in hiding until the machines eventually fall silent. Headstrong warrior #7 (Jennifer Connelly) favors a more direct approach. Amidst their squabbling, archival footage, very reminiscent of Nazi propaganda film, reveals our violent fate as a destructive race pre-occupied with power and nowhere near as enlightened as we would like to think ourselves.

But this is more than a simple anti-war allegory. It’s a story about what it means to be human. It’s a hymn to the power of faith and at the same time a warning against blind devotion to it, preaching that questioning those who would lay claim to leadership is of the utmost importance.

It’s not all metaphysical musings by any stretch. Acker demonstrates early and often that he possesses a deft touch when it comes to the set piece, delivering several blistering skirmishes against the dreaded machines that are clean, crisp, and aurally arresting in a way that easily rivals Omaha Beach and the T-Rex attack. Brief at a mere eighty minutes, 9 is equal parts a biblical parable and a dark-hearted end-of-the-world prophecy that seeks to explore the essence of the human condition. Call it the soul, call it what you will, there is something that we possess that sets us apart and to lose sight of it will ultimately bring about our destruction.

Starring: Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer, Crispin Glover, Martin Landau, Fred Tatasciore

Director: Shane Acker

Runtime: 79 Minutes

Distributor: Focus Features

Rating: PG-13