Review of The Ninth Gate (1999) by Ian L — 06 Sep 2011

I got a sinking feeling as soon the opening credits showed that Roman Polanski had directed this, (the Pianist and Rosemary's Baby being his best by far with the rest of his work being rather poor imo). Sure enough, there were some classic Polanski 1970s B movie moments, the speeded up naff fight sequence by the river Seine in Paris & some of the driving, why speed up a car driving into a petrol station? plus the sex scene by the burning castle & the final images, where has Mr P been for 40 years?

Mr Depp made an odd choice in taking this gig too, he was out of place here and never really got into any kind of involvement with the quest, even when he supposedly wanted the ultimate secret of the books. None of the rest of the cast convinced either, Frank Langella was again weirdly 1970s in his big specs and Emmanuelle Seigner was just wooden, even when strangely floating down steps like some kind of Ninja.

I'd like to forgive Lena Olin in person but would probably even have to point out to her that this was nothing to be proud of, also she had a particularly spotty thigh in the tattoo close up shot, not very alluring at all.