9
Non-spoiler commentary on 9: It was pretty, but I left unsatisfied. Much more could have been done with what was present in the movie, but it wasn't capitalized on.
I have no clue what the director was going for. I *think* he may have been trying for a "nature of the soul" thing since it is explicitly stated that the scientist had split his soul into the nine dolls. But I don't quite buy that, since each of the none dolls did not separately represent a unique aspect of the soul. Or, if they did, it was not clear. Especially since 9 exhibited a full range of characteristics (bravery, fear, intelligence, creativity) that may have been supposedly embodied in the other dolls (7, 1, 2, 6 respectively). If nature of the soul was the goal, it was too muddied to come across.
The director might have been trying for a simple action movie. That's pretty close to what we got up until the very end when it decided to get metaphysical with the discussion of souls, humanity and the continuation of life.
Speaking of the end of the movie, the way it ended took me completely by surprise, and not in a good way. I was left thinking, WTF just happened here? The talisman trapped the souls, then released them into the atmosphere to seed the clouds and rain down little drops of one human's soul to restore life to the planet? Really? But you've only got five out of nine parts of the soul. The life that's getting restored isn't going to be whole.
There were a few different ways I thought it was going to end:
1) When it's revealed that the talisman traps the souls and that The Machine is the intellect of man without the soul, hence why it turned against mankind, I thought that perhaps the nine dolls needed to allow each of their souls to become combined within The Machine in order to make it whole, so that it could complete its intended purpose of progress and rebuilding the world (even if the world is now devoid of humans). Depressing as hell, but it'd make sense given what was revealed of the world.
2) Use the talisman to return the doll's souls back to the doll bodies. It's established that they know how to build and repair the bodies. It's established that the talisman can transfer the souls from one constructed creature to another. It is not a large leap of logic to think that the bodies of the dead could be retrieved or rebuilt and then their souls replaced within them. Perhaps a cheesy ending, but again, it'd make sense given what was revealed of the world.
3) The souls leave the talisman and just dissipate after they say their goodbyes. Boring, cheesy, but it'd still make a lot more sense than rain with soul bits inside.
The movie was good, if you take it as a simple action movie and ignore all the bits after Judy Garland. However, once they start playing the Judy Garland, the movie becomes a mess, stumbling over its own indecisiveness. I liked it, but not as much as I could have.
I have no clue what the director was going for. I *think* he may have been trying for a "nature of the soul" thing since it is explicitly stated that the scientist had split his soul into the nine dolls. But I don't quite buy that, since each of the none dolls did not separately represent a unique aspect of the soul. Or, if they did, it was not clear. Especially since 9 exhibited a full range of characteristics (bravery, fear, intelligence, creativity) that may have been supposedly embodied in the other dolls (7, 1, 2, 6 respectively). If nature of the soul was the goal, it was too muddied to come across.
The director might have been trying for a simple action movie. That's pretty close to what we got up until the very end when it decided to get metaphysical with the discussion of souls, humanity and the continuation of life.
Speaking of the end of the movie, the way it ended took me completely by surprise, and not in a good way. I was left thinking, WTF just happened here? The talisman trapped the souls, then released them into the atmosphere to seed the clouds and rain down little drops of one human's soul to restore life to the planet? Really? But you've only got five out of nine parts of the soul. The life that's getting restored isn't going to be whole.
There were a few different ways I thought it was going to end:
1) When it's revealed that the talisman traps the souls and that The Machine is the intellect of man without the soul, hence why it turned against mankind, I thought that perhaps the nine dolls needed to allow each of their souls to become combined within The Machine in order to make it whole, so that it could complete its intended purpose of progress and rebuilding the world (even if the world is now devoid of humans). Depressing as hell, but it'd make sense given what was revealed of the world.
2) Use the talisman to return the doll's souls back to the doll bodies. It's established that they know how to build and repair the bodies. It's established that the talisman can transfer the souls from one constructed creature to another. It is not a large leap of logic to think that the bodies of the dead could be retrieved or rebuilt and then their souls replaced within them. Perhaps a cheesy ending, but again, it'd make sense given what was revealed of the world.
3) The souls leave the talisman and just dissipate after they say their goodbyes. Boring, cheesy, but it'd still make a lot more sense than rain with soul bits inside.
The movie was good, if you take it as a simple action movie and ignore all the bits after Judy Garland. However, once they start playing the Judy Garland, the movie becomes a mess, stumbling over its own indecisiveness. I liked it, but not as much as I could have.