9A stitch in time saves 9 so 9 can defeat the machines and save the world, but all humans are already dead so our world really isn’t saved. Hooray for the wee sock people, the wool leprechaun custodians of the human spirit!
One Word Review: OKAY
9 is a movie for people who want to see something different, not completely Monty Python different, but a departure from the usual Hollywood formula film. Imagine pitching this movie as a “troop of tiny sock puppets taking on monster metal machines to preserve the spiritual soul of mankind in a post-apocalyptic doomsday world we used to call Earth”. The response might be, make the sock puppets cute robots and let’s make the enemy our own garbage instead of killer machines. Now we’ve got a winner! Wall-E!
However, director Shane Acker’s short film caught the eye of a few creative folk such as Tim Burton (Sweeney Todd) and Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) and, with a cheap budget and an expanded story line; we have 9, released on 9/9/09. Now, with 9/11/09 as the anniversary of a true-life apocalyptic event, the plot of war machines turning on their makers has a certain resonance. However, the leap to athletic sock puppets carrying on the good fight now that humans have been eradicated seems less than awe-inspiring.
However, as we watch the deadly combat between the mechanical beasts and the wee woolies, lovingly rendered against a desolate war-ravaged landscape out of WWI, there is a visual creativity at work here that is fresh and compelling. Yes, the pacing is slow and the action silly, as is most of the dialogue (added to the movie vs. the silent short film) but you watch anyway because this world is so interesting. The characters plucky courage and undeniable cuteness help draw you into the story. Watching “7”, the ninja girl sockette taking a metal spike in the leg and then getting sewn up afterwards with a needle and thread (no blood is spilled from the puppets) is typical of the brave logic driving this story forward against impossible odds.
The hero, 9 (all the socks are numbered by their human creator), is the chosen one. He will unlock the puzzle of the symbols and use the strange disk to defeat the machines. Hooray for our side! Alas, there is no one alive to cheer the victory. Too little, too late is the real story of the puppets and their triumph over the ancient evil lurking within the machines.
However, if our world leaders could settle their arguments with the command, “put a sock in it, would ya!” this movie would be a documentary instead of a fantasy.
If you are curious about the short film that attracted the attention of Hollywood, check it out on YouTube here.
The Story
The opening image of a needle being threaded by an old pair of hands sets the metaphor of the movie; life on earth hanging by a thread. Okay, pull back the camera to our hero hanging by one arm, a great zipper down his chest, a scar from open heart surgery. He waits for the spark of creation from his Dr. Frankenstein. In this case, the good doctor is also the creator of the machines which the military perverted to their own destructive ends, as directed by the Chancellor (inspired by German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck).
The story is part-Terminator, part-Matrix and part-Lord of the Rings with The Wizard of Oz thrown in. We have a pre-computer age machine uprising, a la Skynet. The machines wipe out humanity with gas instead of nuclear bombs. The inventor of the machines tries to save the world by creating a puppet army to fight on and defeat his machines, using one all-powerful disk (ring) that will bind them all, lead by 9 (Neo), the chosen one. 9 is helped by 7 (Trinity) and an older, wiser sock puppet named “2” (Gandalf) who gives him a voice and sacrifices himself to save 9.
There is the leader sock who doesn’t want to take risks (1), the big athletic sock (8) for comic relief and the side-kick one-eyed MacGyver-style sock (5) who can whip up a gasoline bomb or a torch-light at just the right time. There is a troubled sock-van-gogh (6) who draws the secret code over and over again like a puppet possessed while wearing a key around his neck (so you know his drawings will be “key” to solving the disk puzzle). Finally, there is a matching pair of socks (twins) who run the local library and add much-needed archived information so we can figure out just what the heck is going on.
In between the character development of the wee woollies are epic battles with metal beasts shaped like dogs, birds, snakes and an octopus master-machine. These machine beasties are absurdly powerful but strangely no match for the miniscule sock puppets and their scavenged weapons and tiny but clever brains.
The most unfortunate part of the movie is the lame ending, where the souls of the dead socks are liberated to rise upwards and seed the clouds, providing life-giving rain back to the parched earth. Presumably, the remaining socks will watch over the Earth until the water evolves humanity back to its rightful place on Earth as the destroyer of worlds, in a few million years.
The Genre
9 takes the adult CGI-animated fantasy to fresh territory, providing something you’ve never seen before even if you’ve experienced the story a million times. Unlike CGI movies meant for kids but with enough content for adults to enjoy, this movie is too dark for young kids. It is not graphic enough for true adult fare or sexy (the female sockette 7 is rendered as a “7” as well, certainly not in the “10” category).
This is an adult CGI movie searching for an audience. It doesn’t fit neatly in any of the established categories so it will have difficulty finding a broad audience. It is really a cross between Terminator Salvation and Little Big Planet, the video game starring similar sock puppets you can control and guide through worlds you create.
The Overall Quality
9 is an imaginative, great-looking original film with modest aspirations and budget. The director made a good choice setting this world in the pre-computer age, with mechanical motors, blades and electrical components, a retro-look that enhances the mood of a more-innocent age where socks could be given life, weapons and a mission to save humanity.
The voice acting is excellent with great performances by Christopher Plummer as 1 and Jennifer Connelly as 7. Special mention is deserved for the score which blends well with the crunch and scrape of metal on wool in the action sequences, as well as the spiritual, melancholy feel of the puppet lost souls searching for resolution to their predicament.
The direction is the true discovery, with Shane Acker showing a gift for angles and perspectives, selling us on the ability of such tiny creatures to defeat these large, powerful metal beasts. The world he creates is unique yet familiar, with visual references to battlefields from World War I. His command of light and tone is near-perfect, convincingly showing us the desperation of the puppet world, the complete mastery of the world by the machines and the few rays of hope our heroes need to survive.
This mastery is shown in the Wizard of Oz sequence when the socks have blown up the machine factory and celebrate by operating a gramophone, playing Judy Garland singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. They dance to the music as the octopus machine rises from the debris of the factory and advances relentlessly, like the Terminator, on our happy troupe. As the camera shows their relief, amid the optimism of their victory, we think about the same traits they used to succeed, just like the travelers to Oz and their quest for courage, heart and brains. We see the Lion, the Tin Man and the Sock Puppet happily dancing down the yellow brick road where the great beast awaits them, shrouded in smoke and ash.
The essential folly of mankind trying to solve problems with technology, creating soulless all-powerful machines to do our bidding, is familiar. The sock saviors are the fresh element added to this morality tale, as if we could solve our human passion for power by reaching into the top drawer of the dresser for a few pairs of magic wool warriors.
Movie/Market Analysis
MarketBOB’s sentiment indicators, the GQS (Genre, Quality, Story) make 9 a BEAR movie. The story is dark and depressing, the resolution unsatisfying and the visual storytelling, although inspired and original, has little emotional impact. MarketBOB looks forward to the director’s next project, now that he’s opened the doors of Hollywood. One hopes he closes his dresser drawer and ventures out of his bedroom for inspiration for his next movie.
