Juliette Harcourt (fb1814213733)
Juliette's Recent Reviews
9
PG-13
Visually stunning - though some of the depth-work could have done with longer in rendering - this brief tale wants to be an allegory of the ease with which fascism can subvert science. Unfortunately the films' director has allowed someone'' reverence for The Matrix to overly influence the machine designs and so a credible idea is almost subsumed by what is largely an imported iconography.
More troubling is the absence of any convincing reason for the tales' climax. Again one feels that another film has been plundered-in this case David Lynch's flawed classic Dune - to bring the story to a close.
Having said all that, the film is enjoyable enough, though the tempo is uneven. The voice cast is impressive, although Elijah Wood's doesn't really fit the eponymous 9 that well, and the script could have benefited from closer attention.
Developing a successful short into a feature-length film is always a gamble. Using established characters can bring strength to a film; but a film can still only work if the underlying concept it substantial enough to sustain a full feature. Acker should have succeeded, and almost did, but not quite.
All in all, Shane Acker's first feature clearly shows that he is a director with promise. Once he has a few more films under his belt and has developed his own voice then he will indeed be a talent to watch.
