The unfortunate thing about renting movies at Blockbuster is the fact that you don't have your computer with you to check out the reviews at Epinions before you rent something.
I have been wanting to see a good thriller or horror movie for a while now, so searching through what they had in stock, reading the back covers for story lines, my husband and I came across The Ninth Gate. Our first impression was that it would be a horror movie. After all it involved the Devil himself. We figured it would be something like The Devil's Advocate. Potentially bringing about the end of world or something like that.
Only minutes after the movie ended, I went to my computer. I was so appalled at what we just wasted two hours of our time watching, I just had to warn everyone about this movie. It was a true disappointment.
The Cast
Johnny Depp plays a rather sullen (and boring) rare book investigator by the name of Dean Corso. I know all the reviews show him as a collector, but throughout the movie you never see his collection. He does purchase rare books for sale to the highest bidder and he does research. He smokes a lot, he drinks a lot, and as a professional dealing with rare script hundreds of years old, he seems to have no respect for preserving the books. Constantly we commented on how poorly he handled the books with no gloves to preserve the parchment. He smoked while he read them closely. And he carried the one main book with him all the time, in an old bag, even in the rain.
We assume through the movie that Boris Balkan (Frank Langella) is the "Bad Guy" although we never have any real idea as to why. He is mostly a gruff voice over the phone, so you never really get to know him or his motivation behind having the book researched. Even in the end this bad guy isn't so "bad". More like crazy. Just keeps you wondering what he's all about.
Then there is the "Green eyed girl" with no name who is played by Emmanuelle Seigner. Once again we have a character without character. She helps Dean through the movie when he needs it most. At one point you notice she has the ability to fly (or at least jump gracefully down 30 stairs with never touching one). Is she an "angel of darkness" or just woman following Dean around to make sure he doesn't lose the book? Who does she work for? And what is her motivation behind ensuring Dean finds out all the information he needs?
The Plot
I'm going to assume that the story is ... an avid book collector, Balkan, has one of three existing copies of THE NINE GATES OF THE KINGDOM OF SHADOWS. This book was supposedly co-authored by the Devil himself and holds the keys to unlocking the Ninth Gate, presumably raising Satan.
Unfortunately, Balkan is unable to work through the puzzles of the book to succeed in unlocking the gate. Since it doesn't work, he hires Dean to research the other two copies to find out if his is truly an original.
Dean follows the trails of the other two books to meet with their owners. Once he has reviewed the books, the owners mysteriously end up dead, and the books destroyed. Finding out the secrets of the books, that they must be used together, not just a single copy, Dean continues to pursue what is happening.
The Ending
I couldn't tell you the ending if I wanted to. There is not a true ending to this story. It leaves you hanging with more questions unanswered than a trivia book with it's answer pages ripped out. Was Dean a good person trying to stop what happened? Did he somehow decide he wanted to pleasure of unlocking the Gate himself? Who the heck was the girl? Why are there so many really rich people with extensive rare collections of Lucifer? And what the heck is the Ninth Gate?
My Overall View?
Yuck! The movie was extremely slow. We kept waiting for it to build up to some major fight scene between good and evil. It never happened. We kept waiting to find out what was going on and why. It never happened. The characters were very one-dimensional, not very interesting, and very quiet. The only good thing about the movie was the music. It was eerie. It should have been reserved for a truly good thriller.
I was completely disappointed with this film. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone.
Based on a novel by Arturo Prez-Reverte THE CLUB DUMAS and coscripted by director Roman Polanski THE NINTH GATE was Polanski's first feature after a l...More at Family Video
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