Blu-Ray Review: ‘9’ Counts on Audacious Visuals to Pull in Viewers

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CHICAGO – Seventy years ago, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released a haunting animated short named “Peace On Earth.” Director Hugh Harman set his story in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited only by animals, who have rebuilt a society dedicated to peace and nonviolence. Mankind ultimately brought about their own extinction by forging never-ending wars.

With tough subject matter and a cautionary message, this groundbreaking cartoon proved that the medium of animation could be used for more than lightweight escapism aimed at children. In 2005, UCLA student Shane Acker made a thesis film that resembled Harman’s short, in terms of its setting and themes. Instead of animals emerging from the wreckage of a bombed-out wasteland, there were odd mechanical creatures with burlap skin and camera irises for eyes. This wordless, visually arresting short ended up snagging an Oscar nod.

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.0/5.0

In its feature-length incarnation, “9” delivers a thrilling visual experience on Blu-ray. There’s a visceral energy to Acker’s storytelling that reverberates throughout every frame, as his film hurtles through a wondrous landscape both assuredly alien and oddly familiar. Each of the scavengers are referred to by the number written on their back. The film opens as the ninth “creation” comes to life, as he discovers his human creator dead on the floor (there are definite echoes here of producer Tim Burton’s “Edward Scissorhands”). He finds his eight companions in seclusion, hiding from the fearsome machines that rage outside. 9 eventually emerges as the chosen one, motivating the others to fight back.

John C. Reilly and Martin Landau lend their voices to the numbered scavengers in Shane Acker’s 9.
Photo credit: Universal Home Entertainment

If this plot sounds blatantly derivative of various science fiction blockbusters, you’d be correct. The script, by “Corpse Bride” writer Pamela Pettler, is a touch too fond of standard action set-pieces and wisecracks. When the characters discover why and how their scientist created them, the explanation is overly sentimental and simplistic. It would have been far more effective to keep the characters silent, as they were in the short. Of course, the film wouldn’t have been made without the attachment of big names (not just producers Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, but actors the likes of Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Christopher Plummer, etc.). Though the celebrity voices stick out like a sore thumb, they are all well suited for their respective roles.

9 was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on December 29th, 2009. Photo credit: Universal Home Entertainment

These considerable flaws may be the reason why “9” has been uninvited to this year’s awards season. Though it’s disheartening to see Acker’s purely artistic vision turned into a commercial product, his film is easily one of the year’s most dazzling and enthralling entertainments.

There’s a number of moments guaranteed to send viewers jumping from their seats, as the tiny heroes forge “David and Goliath”-style battle with machines that thankfully don’t resemble transformers or terminators. There’s one, however, that consists of a malevolent red eye, and looks like the love child of the HAL 9000 and Sauron. Remnants of mankind’s destruction are littered throughout the frame; one character uses a human hand as a chair. Everything from the stitched burlap to the wisps of smoke are painted with such breathtaking detail that viewers may feel like they can reach out and touch them. The greatest achievement of “9” may be its proof that audiences can enjoy a truly three-dimensional experience without the need for silly glasses.

“9” is presented in 1080p High Definition (with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio), and accompanied by English, French and Spanish audio tracks. The disc offers some rather pointless Blu-ray features, such as “U-Control” (which allows viewers the option of watching behind the scenes footage alongside the film), a pocket BLU app for iPhone and iPod Touch, and a D-Box Motion Code. The filmmaker commentary provides insight into the film’s various design challenges, such as the limited range of emotion conveyed by the scavengers’ eyes, which made their physical pantomime all the more crucial. In one of the numerous featurettes, Acker delves into the themes of the film, and how the cautionary setting was meant to evoke an alternate vision of postwar Europe in the 30s and 40s. Yet the best extra, by far, is Acker’s original 10-minute short.

By MATT FAGERHOLM Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com matt@hollywoodchicago.com