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Issue date: 11/2/09 Section: Can You Hear Me Now

Despite a major advertisement campaign, a star-stacked cast, and the enticing name of producer Tim Burton, the computer-animated film 9 all but faded from the minds of movie-goers within a week of its bombastic 9-9-09 release date. While the film featured an intriguing premise that expanded upon the Academy Award-winning short of the same name, it failed to captivate beyond its dystopian, science-fiction elements and succeeded only in confusing me.

It's not that the plot is particularly confounding; in fact, it's pretty basic. The movie is set in a post-apocalyptic world where machines have taken control of the planet. Sound familiar?

It begins with a sack-like creature by the name of 9 (voiced by Elijah Wood), who is awoken by a scientist in this dystopia. The scientist appears to pass away following 9's awakening, and the timid creation ventures into the outside world. He quickly comes across various other sack creatures (voiced by the likes of Christopher Plummer, John C. Reilly, Martin Landau and Crispin Glover) and together they attempt to save each other and the world from a consistent barrage of various mechanical creatures.

The portrayal of gender in 9 is actually what I found to be the film's most befuddling attribute. With the character 7, it seems as if director Shane Acker was trying to engage and question the traditional gender roles found in action films, despite the gender neutrality of the sacks. In the traditional Hollywood action movie, men and women have very distinct roles. Men are dominating, controlling protectors, while the female waits helplessly to be saved. 7's relationship to the other sack creatures draws this archetype into question.

While their gender is never specified, it's hard to ignore the choices made selecting actors. Voiced by Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Connelly, 7 is the sole sack creature who is not voiced by a man. While the majority of the sack creatures spend the duration of the film cowering and/or running in fear, 7 continually enters action scenes as a great protector saving the other sack creatures and defeating machines. She bursts in at just the right time with an agility and finesse not seen in the other characters. 7 is easily identified as the warrior of the group and repeatedly saves their hopeless sacks.

Despite 7's status as the savior, there are other ways in which this character fulfills the role of the traditional action movie female. For one, she never really makes the decisions for the group. While vocal in her opinions, the group tends to rely primarily upon 1 or 9 when it comes to difficult choices, despite the fact they both have a knack for leading the group into loads of trouble. While 7 is the more action-oriented character, there is no denying the fact that 9 is the film's protagonist. The audience experiences everything in Acker's dystopian world through 9's eyes. There are also hints of a romantic relationship between 7 and 9, as one of the film's shots frames the characters together, standing hand in hand.

However, the most interesting aspect of the gender relationships in 9 comes during the film's climax. It is revealed that the nine sack creatures are all different parts of one soul belonging to the male scientist who created them. This means that the seemingly female character of 7 represents a portion of this male's most inner being. While it is definitely intriguing, the film doesn't provide enough information to make a substantial claim about gender or its role with these sack creatures, or action films in general.

It is these factors that prevent 7 from truly transcending gender stereotypes and prevent 9 from working as a progressive film. Critiques of 9 are eerily similar to those aimed at the majority of producer Tim Burton's work: while the inspiring visuals compel audiences, the attempts at depth are ultimately shallow and confusing.

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