9 Dragons directed by Rudi Soedjarwo is the story of three gangsters - Marwan (Lukman Sardi), Lenny (Fauzi Baadila) and Donny (Doni Alamsyah) based in the ghettos of Jakarta. Each one has challenges in his own personal lives. Marwan lives with his handicapped wife and child, however runs from his family responsibilities. Donny wants to help his brother who has a keen interest in drawing and wants to pursue it as a career but is put off by high admission fees of the college. Lenny has developed a crush on a girl who serves in a bar but cannot express as she does not speak Bhasha and her uncle thinks he is a crook. Amongst all this fight for survival, there is a desire in them to move away from the maim. They believe "one kill is too many" but overcoming the challenges means getting out of the rut they are in. And to get out, they need a leap which can only be achieved by more maim. Marwan accidentally kills Donny in one such errands and is filled with regret for his actions and tries to change himself totally. BUT he ends up in a soup as he kills the person who used to hire him as an assassin. He buys the dream house of his wife from the stolen money from his hirer; gets his child immunised and gets ready to surrender to the police. But, the bad guys are now on a lookout for him for killing his hirer and the stolen dough. They hold Lenny captive and ask Marwan to come take him in return for the money. In the end Marwan meets the same fate as his preys used to.
Interesting fact from IMDB:
Actor Fauzi Baadila's belly button and the film's tagline "Manusia terbaik di Indonesia adalah seorang penjahat" (The best man in Indonesia is a criminal) on posters had to be covered with red tape a month before the film's release when the country's film censor board complained. The covers of the 9 Naga DVD and VCD do not contain the tagline but do, however, have a large red "X" posted over Baadilla's body part.
Director's successful attempts:
The background music and its editing was quite amazing and very timely placed in the scenes. Good storyline.
Director's failed attempts:
There was a strong attempt to make this a cognitively heavy movie but the transistion from gangster movie to emotional was not quite successful. Not once did I feel moved by any of the scenes. And this is partly due to the character's performances - I mean watching Marwan trudging slowly in guilt; hugging Lenny; putting on the white sweater woven by his wife looked far too melodramatic and sometimes funny. Another thing is the pace of the movie... it just makes you impossible to keep awake.
