Review of The Ninth Gate (1999) by Arianeta L — 15 Jan 2011

With Johnny Depp on board in a Roman Polanski movie, how could that not be epic? Though the movie does allure with it's subject matter, when it's all said and done, it could have been a little more epic.

A book dealer is hired by a very wealthy collector to seek out 2 other copies of a book that he possesses to verify their authenticity, because this spacific book, the real one, should be able to summon the Devil. But this journey to the truth proves to be more dangerous than it seems. Like I said, what could possibly go wrong? Though intriguing, this MURDEROUS thriller is all mystery, but nothing that mysterious or that shocking. Frankly it's mostly the story that's the problem. I can't say that this is Johnny Depp's most memorable character. He seems awefully bland in this one. But Frank Langella is always epic.

Roman Polanski, one of the masters of mystery and thrillers, does an acceptional job, though not one of his best. Some scenes don't carry on as well or as interesting, but there are the exceptions in cinematography and the camera placement that only Polanski can do. The thing that annoyed me the most was the music which was not only unoriginal, but some of the music score didn't fit the movie's tone at all which pulled me out of the experience.

The premise was interesting, but the rest of the movie couldn't keep up with the many possible directions the story could have gone. The story was average and the direction wasn't Polanski at his best. What could have been creepy as hell (no pun intended) ended up being a rehash of other satanic/mystery movies. The movie is good for a first view, but there's very little point to watch it a second time.