| |
 |
|
| Movies Forum Index » Movie Reviews Forum » Review: 9 (2009)... |
|
Page 1 of 1 |
|
| Author |
Message |
| Tim Skirvin... |
 Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 12:01 am |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Aah, hologram movies! On the one hand, they are pretty and shiny
and high-tech; on the other, they are shallow and do not hold up to the
slightest scrutiny. Sometimes, they work out well - _The Nightmare Before
Christmas_ comes to mind, as does _The Dark Crystal_ - and other times you
end up with a pile of beautiful but meaningless much, such as _Corpse
Bride_, or _The Phantom Menace_. But even if their track record is poor,
movies like these are fun to go to - either to report back as to the glory,
or to warn away those that are likewise sucked in by the Pretty Colors.
Of course, "pretty" is a relative thing when it comes to a movie
like _9_ (not to be confused with _Nine_, coming out later this year for
maximum confusion). The animation style of this movie is gritty and
realistic, and the sets displayed are post-apocalyptic. Dirt and debris is
everywhere, and there is a decidedly steampunk vibe to all of the
proceedings. Even the characters are simply stitched together. But for me,
just seeing the dust hanging in the air through the animation added a lot
to the spectacle for me, as the grime and destruction reminded me of the
kinds of video games that I play for fun.
And speaking of video games - yeah, it felt like one. That's not
altogether a bad thing, though. The action scenes are well done, in a very
Final Fantasy-esque manner; all the characters seem to take logical and
consistent actions in every battle, and the environment is used to great
effect. The creatures were varied, spectacular, and somehow logical.
Nothing was really *wasted*, in exactly the way that no good video game
background is just ignored. All in all, I could see this making a nice
game... if you could get over losing your characters on a regular basis.
That really was a fair bit of death!
Past the spectacle, though, there's not a whole lot to say about
the movie. The characters are more developed than just their names (1
through 9), but only barely. The background story is bleak and impressively
depressing (and perhaps even thought-out!), but has few connections to the
actual storyline. The villain was clear enough and acted in a generally
logical manner, but its reason for being was not at all obvious. The
eventual resolution came mostly out of nowhere. And while the ending was
clear, the *reason* for the ending wasn't very logical - or even connected
to the rest of the movie!
Still, on balance I'm happy I saw the movie. I wonder if I'll enjoy
it more down the line, when the plot becomes merely a memory and a piece of
the overall animation. For now, I can't really say that it's any better
than a middling movie.
** 1/2
- Tim Skirvin (tskirvin at (no spam) killfile.org)
--
http://wiki.killfile.org/ Skirv's Homepage <FISH>< <*>
http://wiki.killfile.org/reviews/movies Skirv's Movie Reviews |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
|
All times are GMT - 5 Hours
The time now is Sun Nov 22, 2009 3:59 pm
|
|