Rating: 
Summary: Read the Book
Review: An excellent and faithful realization of Arturo Perez-Reverte's "The Club Dumas" up to a certain point, at which it all goes to hell, literally! One thing's for sure, you can read the book or see the movie and neither will spoil the ending of the other. Although I understand the Satanist route, it seems like Polanski cut the last ten minutes of the movie, the scene wherein we learn WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON. As some other reviewers here have mentioned, the ending is extremely disappointing, and casts doubt back on one's enjoyment of the rest of what is really a very well made film. Still, Depp is an extremely versatile actor which is a rare trait nowadays, and the film is beautifully photographed and edited. On the other hand, the music is ridiculously inappropriate and viewers will burst out laughing in several points only because of the goofy soundtrack.
Rating: 
Summary: Such wasted potential
Review: The plot has a lot of promise, but unfortunately there is no follow through. I wouldn't waste the money unless you are planning on taking a nap sometime in the middle of the film... The acting is capable, but nothing special, and not even Depp can bring the lead character to life.
Rating:
Summary: Trash - don't waste your time
Review: What crap - reasonable start, suspenseful, nice nude scene, but then it felt like they lost the last pages of the plot and just ran the credits.The only thing that's a bigger waste of time is typing a long review of such trash.
Rating: 
Summary: Great acting but no plot to support it
Review: Almost all the right elements were present; casting, cinematic mood, musical score. All that appears to have been missing was a script. Not even the brilliant performances of Johnny Depp, Lena Olin, Frank Langella and Barbara Jefford can make up for the lack of true tension I have come to expect from a Roman Polanski film. Its a fairly long film (133 min) that spends most of that time building up to a totally non climatic ending. Although the character development of the protagonist (Depp) was well done and the photographic "feel" was superb, the plot lacked sufficient substance to support all the build up.
Rating:
Summary: Uh-Huh
Review: ...."Has someone been in my room? Something is missing!" "Just your wife Sir." "But I don't have a wife." (ring ring). "Excuse me Sir, while I answer this more important call"... and so on and so on... I actually liked this movie up until the end, even with scenes like those above, which kept asking me to stretch my "You believe this would happen in Real Life, Dontcha?!?!?" movie imagination way past it's bearable limits(please stop my brain is hurting). Best part had to be the "Don Quixote(sp?)" pilferage scene. Worst, "The END"! Yeah, I didn't understand it (Would I if I get the DVD with the commentary track running?????) I am sure I missed something somewhere, with all the reviewers here with their "Corso, the man you love to HATE", but I never saw it that way. He was just another guy to me (a little naive [rediculously] at times). Or maybe it was that I just didn't feel for him either way (good or bad). Oh, By The Way...How come he never gets to mix it up with the cops??? Plenty of chances. What does the girl smell like lilacs or old sneakers? I don't care how good looking a girl is...She gotta change clothes sometime!!!! Again, good movie up to the end though.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for the dumb and lazy
Review: First, sorry for the mistakes; I usually speak french. I heard a lot about this movie before I decided to rent it. Mostly "It doesn't make any sense", "They don't explain anything" and "Worst ending ever". While it's true that you know very little about what's happening and why it's happening, it's a definite plus and it got me hooked very quickly. I really HATE movies where the main characters explain every little detail in some cheap dialog designed to protect the viewers from having to THINK. This movie doesn't treat you like you were dumb, unlike most. In addition, the ending isn't grossly predictable, a flaw that is all too common. Ah, yes, the so-called "worst ending ever". Of course to someone who's just sitting there waiting for everything to be explained or for a big, spectacular ending with a major event where everything blows up and the main character barely escapes death, it will be very dissapointing. Nothing is explained. And in this case, the purpose of the movie's ending is to "end" the movie. Unbelievable, huh? Small note: the general atmosphere of the movie is very special, and I liked it very much. A nice change from the usual. Finally, I think that the actors did a pretty good job. Nothing out of the ordinary, but above average. In particular, I don't understand why people keep saying that Emmanuelle Seigner did a terrible job. Maybe it's because she is Polanski's wife. "If she's the director's wife, she can't be a good actress, right?" Well, I think her acting is perfectly appropriate for her character, which is, in my opinion, the most interesting in the whole movie; the unnamed, mysterious woman whose true nature remains unknown. I am always reluctant to give something a 5-star review, and so I will give this movie 4 stars. It might not be the kind of movie YOU like, but I think it is well worth it to see it for yourself instead of listening to other people's critics. I am very glad I did, and I am seriously thinking about buying it.
Rating:
Summary: Where's the ending?
Review: What crap - good start, suspenseful music, nice nude scene, but then it seemed like they ran out of plot and just faded to the credits.
Rating: 
Summary: Polanski's latest masterpiece !
Review: Like fearless vampire killers,this movie is unique.It's different,mindbending and delightful.It is slow-paced,but not boring.The plot: a book connoisseur is hired by an obssessed collector to study one of his rare books in order to discover whether or not that book was written by the Devil himself.To do that he has to compare that copy with two other ones whose owners claim are Satan's original literary work.You can jump to whatever conclusion you want about the movie,but you can't say the story is dull!
Rating:
Summary: Never pays off
Review: The movie starts out well - good idea, beautiful sets, good actors (Depp is good throughout) but never turns into something. Playing the the Devil (capital D) ought to be chilling and suspenseful, and the movie just never takes the next step. That and the music (by the composer who was equally hit and miss in "Bram Stoker's Dracula") is in many places a near twin for the comic background music in "Ghostbusters" totally destroying the chilling mood (and wasting the excellent buildup throughout most of the film) Just not what you expect. Maybe it's a European thing. I was expecting a John Carpenter style movie where I'm so scared I have to turn the lights up and the sound down not because of the gore but because I'm so scared of what he might dredge up out of the depths of history about Evil (with a capital E) i.e. "The Prince of Darkness." And what was the ending? "POD" has stayed with me for years - this left me empty. I am going to read the book, though - the movie did have some neat ideas.
Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking, interesting, and way unappreciated.
Review: I hesitated renting this movie, because I hadn't heard many good reviews on it. I had, however, been intrigued by the previews, so I decided to take the chance. In my opinion, I made a good choice. To be a truly good and honest critic, one must be blind to everything but the movie itself. Pay no attention to who directed it, who starred in it, or what genre to force it into. If you spend more time comparing and contrasting a movie than actually watching it, how can you ever enjoy it? Many people were hoping that it would be a horror movie while it was more slow paced. Other were renting it for the brand name actors, and were disappointed to the find they had little roles. Some were expecting something different because of the director. The story is about Johnny Depp's character being hired by a rich, power hungry book collector (Frank Langella) to see if his most prized book, "The Ninth Gate", is authentic. The book is designed to summon the devil, but since his does not seem to do that, he believes that only one out of the three copies in existence is real. Depp soon gets more that he bargained for, his own life along with many others in danger. The story is rich in detail and contains many clever twist in plot line. It must be warned, however, that if one does not pay close attention to the story, the ending with make no sense.
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