9 (2009 film)

9 is a 2009 computer-animated fantasy film directed by Shane Acker and produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov. The film stars Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Crispin Glover, Martin Landau and Christopher Plummer.[2][3] It is based on Acker's Academy Award-nominated 2005 short film of the same name.[4] The screenplay for the film was written by Pamela Pettler. Casting for 9 was done by Mindy Marin, with production design by Robert St. Pierre and Fred Warter, and art direction by Christophe Vacher.


Plot


A Scientist creates a small mechanical humanoid homunculus (also called a "stitchpunk"). The Scientist believes humanity caused its own doom by blindly pursuing science and technology. Using a talisman, he gives life to the doll (9), then dies.

9 (Elijah Wood) awakens in the Scientist's workshop, finding the talisman. Outside, society has been destroyed, and the Earth left desolate. Seeing someone below, 9 tries calling out but is unable to speak. He grabs the talisman and runs outside. He comes across 2 (Martin Landau) who gives him a doll's voice box. They are attacked by the 'Cat Beast' which captures 2, taking him toward three tall shapes. As he is running away, 9 tears his shoulder, and eventually passes out from exhaustion.

When 9 awakens, he meets one-eyed 5 (John C. Reilly) who has sewn 9's shoulder and brought him to a church. 9 meets the stubborn and irritable 1 (Christopher Plummer) and the large, brutish 8 (Fred Tatasciore). 1 says the machines have destroyed everything, and 5 takes 9 to the watchtower where he can see where 2 was taken; he and 5 go to save him. After a fight with the 'Cat Beast' (who was about to put the talisman that he took along with 2, into a dormant machine). They meet 7 (Jennifer Connelly) the only female stitchpunk, who kills the machine. 9 places the talisman where the beast was about to put it, and 2 pushes him aside only, but is killed. The Fabrication Machine awakens, and after another fight, 9, 5, and 7 escape, devastated by 2's death.

7 leads them to the mute twins 3 and 4 (they communicate with flashing lights in their eyes). 9 draws a picture of the talisman after learning that the Scientist built the B.R.A.I.N. (the Fabrication Machine) for good. Instead it builds machines for evil, destroying humans. 5 tells 9 that the picture he drew is the same as what 6 (Crispin Glover) always draws. They return to look at 6's paintings, but are caught by 8 and turned into 1. Furious, 1 states that 9 only causes trouble. They are still quarreling when they are attacked by the 'Winged Beast', which the Fabrication Machine invented in the time they were gone.

The church catches fire in the fight, and the beast is destroyed in a downed plane's propeller. The stitchpunks move to a deserted graveyard. 1 admits after a quarrel with 9 that he actually sent 2 out to die,and not for a scouting mission, his excuse being that he was "old and weak." 8 and 7 are captured by another beast, 'The Seamstress' who uses 2's lifeless body as bait. 9, 6, 3, 5 and 4 have a small memorial for 2.

9 can only save 7 because 9 came too late, and the machine sucked 8's soul out; they destroy the factory. They celebrate, but 5, chasing a vinyl phonograph record that rolled down a hill, finds the machine is still alive. 5 warns the others just before the machine absorbs his life. The remaining stitchpunks run across a bridge, which cracks in half, stranding the machine being on the other side. It grabs 6, but he tells them not to destroy it, because others are "trapped inside." The machine kills him and drops his body into the chasm. 9, the only one who believes 6, does what 6 said: "go back to the source," which 9 recognizes as the room he awoke in.

In the scientist's workshop, 9 finds a box labeled "9", and opens it. A hologram appears, and the scientist shows him how to use the talisman against the machine.

9 finds the others struggling to destroy the machine with a cannon, but it only slightly damages it, forcing them to run. They hide under a box covered by a live ammunition belt. 9 tells them to use him as bait. He shows them how to use the talisman, but the machine finds them. They run, and the machine lights off the bullets with a blast of fire. The explosion throws 7 up against a wooden post and 1's hand is injured. 9 prepares to sacrifice himself, despite 7's desperate pleas. 1 pushes 9 aside and is killed instead. 9 uses the talisman and the machine explodes. 7, 3, and 4 rush over to help 9, who had been knocked out by the blast and falling debris. 7 congratulates him, but 9 says there is still more to be done.

9, 3, 4, and 7 set up memorials for the dead stitchpunks, and 9 activates the talisman once again. The spirits of 5, 2, 1, 8, and 6 appear. 1 places a hand on 9's shoulder, implying 9 did a good job, then disappears with the others into the sky. 7 murmurs that they are free now. It begins to rain; the amazed stitchpunks have never seen water before. Water droplets fall on the camera lens, and small green specks inside the drops are moving around, indicating life has survived.

7 asks 9, "What happens next?" 9 replies, "I don't know. But the world is ours now. It's what we make of it."

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9_(2009_film)