"9"

            “9”, directed by Shane Acker, was released on September 19. 2009 by Focus Feature production company as a marketing technique to earn more revenue. Scoring a 60 on the Metacritics scale with mixed reviews, the movie was quite successful earning about $15 million on its 5 day opening. The movie has been appraised on its graphics being nominated for many awards but is lacking enthusiasm in its narrative.
The movie background begins with a scientist who is asked to create the ultimate machine called the B.R.A.I.N, with the knowledge that the machine would help people but a dictator, instead, uses the machine to duplicate war machines from it. In response, the machines turned against  humans creating a genocide of all man-kind. To fight against the unstoppable machines he had created, the scientist creates 9 homunculus-like creations each containing a different characteristic of his personality.

Elijah Wood

The movie begins with 9 (Elijah Wood), a rag-doll, awakening in a laboratory. 9 begins to wander around the cities rubble confused as to what happened along the streets until he meets 2 (Martin Laudau) who notices that 9 can not speak and so repairs it for him. They converse over a medallion 9 had found until they get attacked by a machine, the Cat-Machine, which snatches up 2, along with the medallion, and takes them both to the Fabrication Factory leaving 9 passed out.
9 wakes up in an old cathedral where he meets 1 (Christopher Plummer), 5(John Riley), 6 (Crispin Clover), and 8 (Fred Tatasciore). 9 tells 1, who is the leader amongst the creations, that they must go and save 2 but 1 refuses to leave. 9 decides to go and rescue him and has 5 come along to rescue his friend.
The 2 reach the Fabrication factory where they find 2 but have to battle the Cat-Machine. In doing so, 7 (Jennifer Connelly), the warrior part of the scientist’s personality, comes in during the battle and defeats the machine.
Their celebration is cut short because 9’s curiosity caused him to unleash the ultimate soul-sucking machine which takes the life out of 2 leaving the others to flee. 7 then takes 9 and 5 to a library where they meet the twins, 3 and 4 who are unable to speak but offer help and answer questions. They then are shown the origin of the monster that 9 had unleashed and so 9 and 5 go to find 6 to try and grasp a fuller understanding of what has been going on but are captured by 8, 1’s body guard. While 9 and 5 are talking with 1, the B.R.A.I.N had sent a winged-machine to go and attack the creations but the creations defeat the machine. In doing so, they lose their cathedral to a fire that burns it down and so therefore, retreat to the library where they encounter another machine, the Seamstress, which uses 2’s body to capture 7 and 8 and take them to the Fabrication Factory.
The creations then go and attempt to rescue both 7 and 8 but only attempt to save 7 for the B.R.A.I.N had taken 8’s soul in front of 9’s eyes. 7 and 9 escape the factory where the others then send an oil barrel down a tunnel which destroys the entire factory; and with knowledge that the monster machine had been killed along with it.
While celebrating their victory, 5 discovers that the B.R.A.I.N had not been killed  and so the machine takes his life. They remaining survivors escape across a bridge except 6, who gets captured by the machine but manages to tell the others to go back to the “source”.
9 tells the others that they should go back to the source but the others refuse to listen and would rather destroy the machine so 9 runs back to the source where he had first awakened. 9 discovers a video message made by the scientist and learns why all the numbers had been created and their purposes. He also learns that the medallion is the key to destroying the monster and therefore runs to go meet the others to tell them the news.

9 bravely faces the B.R.A.I.N.

He finds the others with a cannon, ready to destroy the machine, and tells them the news he had discovered. He convinces the others to distract the machine while he grabs the medallion but in doing so, 1 risks his life so that 9 can save the others. 9 grabs the medallion and defeats the monster. In the final scene, 3, 4, 7, and 9 build a memorial circle where 9 unleashes the souls of the dead creations  from the talisman and release their spirit for a final rest.
The movie “9” was, overall, a well thought movie with a lot of dedication that showed through in the final production. The movie in the beginning could have had a better story line with more action that made a little more sense but the ending scene gave the movie a strong impact on the viewer that ties all lose ends together and brought everything to a closure.