Rating: 
Summary: How a movie dealing with the devil should be made...
Review: Just wanted to point out that there were a lot of special effects in this movie. People keep saying there were any effects used. If you listen to Polanski's audio track, he tells you about all of them."What's wrong? The Devil won't show up?"
Rating: 
Summary: 34555+4321
Review: This film had such great potential. It started to be a very interesting story that I couldn't wait to see get fully developed... unfortunetly it never did and just ended in a VERY POOR way. I don't think that I have seen a movie that takes me from wow this is cool to what happened... what a waist of money. I think the review from tokieyasu says it perfect... and I paraphrase... "To be honest the ending stinks. Again what is so horrible about this film is that for over an hour and a half this film is very good. It is a great film that piques your interest. I could not wait to find out what this book was and why it was so important. And what does the film do with this intelligent plot and our interest? The film breaks down into a poorly acted and stupid ending. What a waste of a movie that was almost very good." --tokieyasu
Rating: 
Summary: A very slooooow movie
Review: This movie had so much potential. Unfortunately, it never lived up to it. It was almost emotionless. Johnny Depp plays a suave antique book dealer that excels in screwing people moneywise. He always gets his book. His reputation leads an equally unscrupulous book collector Frank Langella to seek out his services. The service he wants him to perform, is to examine the companion copies of his own rare book to determine the fakes. Once this can be determined this book collector wants to own the original at all costs. His stress on this extreme is clear, that he would expect Johnny Depp to kill to obtain this book for him. He won't take no for an answer, from Johnny Depp either. The attraction to this book, is that it is proported to be co-authored by the devil himself and the possessor, would if properly used gain supernatural (or in this case subnatural?) powers. The premise was wonderfully set up. On top of that, the book that Johnny Depp is entrusted with was apparently obtained in such a fashion that the owner would kill to get it back. Unfortunately, Johnny Depp's character finds this out only at the death of his partner. His partner's death amazing resembles a tile in the book. The promise of this story, is never met, even though, it has many twisted insights: the mysterious girl on the train, the tiles matching the various deaths that follow, etc. But, they are presented in a matter of fact way that there is no build up of suspense or tension in any fashion. At one point in time when Lena Olin's character steals the book from Johnny Depp, Frank Langella kills her to get it back. There seems to be no sense or horror to the killings. Nor any retribution considered. One small thing is the European scenery is beautiful. The main finding Johnny Depp's character adds is that the books, are all partial fakes. Each one has non-Lucifer signed tiles and only by taking the real tiles from each of the books, is a full set possible. Of course this happens. But, not completely. Frank Langella's character thinks he has and by taking them to a site (a really neat abandoned castle in Europe, that's significance is never revealed) ends up self immolating in a show of omnipotence. Johnny Depp escapes and his "floating" mystery girl tells him what went wrong and nudges him to find the key to gain this power himself. You end on the note of Johnny Depp reentering the castle where Frank Langella toasted himself. This movie had so much potential that was wasted, the insight that all 3 books needed to make up the sum of the single set of real tiles, the mysterious deaths of the previous owners, etc. However, there was no sense of depth from the characters. Johnny Depp's character was so matter of fact about the deaths happening around him, you would think he was a hard bitten Army captain rather than an antique book dealer. His entire sense of strain was portrayed in alcohol bottles and cigarettes. Frank Langella's role, as usual was over the top power hungry maniac wearing a bad set of glasses. Lena Olin's character was a little more involved, but not much more so, with her playing a not so grieving gold digging widow, who's dead husband's last living act was to part with a book that she cherished. The floating mystery girl, according to other reviewers was Roman Polanski's wife. Gee, I wonder if her eyes really change color like that, and what did that mean anyway? Shades of Pia Zadora?
Rating:
Summary: What happened to this movie.
Review: I found this movie very gripping. I found many of the concepts facinating. Many of the characters are captivating and very well thought out. Every character has hidden agendas and mystery. However for all the movies greatness it fails at the end. Nothing is explained and there are not enough clues for the audience to make their own minds about it. Almost seemed that they got to the end and didn't know what to do. A brillant movie that is let down at the end.
Rating: 
Summary: what was up with the ending
Review: well this movie started out really interesting. but about an hour into you quickly lose any interest you had for it. the plot is basically about a book collector or actually he collects books for other people and he is trying to find out if this book i think it was called the nine gates or something of that nature is the origonal one. anywho the movie is kind of boring and a stupid ending that i didnt get. i would pass on buying this movie and i barely recommend renting it.
Rating:
Summary: CEREBRAL HORROR
Review: This is truly a "thinking mans'" horror movie. Those who don't "get it" now never will and should probably stick to the more predictable genre films that don't require any thought on the viewers part. The fact that so many viewers did not understand the ending has me wondering if they paid attention during whole film or were they waiting for some great CGI effects...or perhaps a good old fashioned run of the mill American explosion. Now for those of you who are sure you are intellectually equipped to...heaven forbid think and figure out the ending with the numerous clues Polanski presents, you are sure to have an entertaining evening and perhaps even a intellectually stimulating conversation with your friends. This is great film intended for those who walk away from the big budget hollywood movies feeling like they were insulted.
Rating:
Summary: Worst ending ever
Review: This movie is slow and boring. The ending was extremely dissapointing. If you like unfinished movies then this is the one for you.
Rating:
Summary: A fantastically eerie thrill...
Review: Wow, it's great to finally see some positive reviews. I was afraid that my Johnny Depp fans and compatriots were the only people that really adored this movie. I saw a preview for The Ninth Gate way back in July '98 and I was entranced then. I saw it the day it opened and the week after as well. I was shocked to see how many people were confused, disappointed, or both. I understood it just fine and I was completely enthralled with Roman Polanski's excellent use of cinematography, landscape, fine acting talent, and a great screenplay. This movie, combined with Sleepy Hollow really have turned me onto Johnny Depp's amazing talent. It's still rather surprising to me that, as a fairly staunch non-denominational Christian at a fairly young age, I am so entertained by a movie about conjuring up Satan and laden with a bit of sexual content and a tad of swearing but I just can't help it. The mood is just so appealing. I reccomend renting this movie just for the chilling introduction and opening credits. Combined with Wojciech Kilar's goosebump-conjuring score, Johnny Depp and Frank Langella's amazing performances, and Polanski at his best, it all turns out to be a fascinatingly frightening. "I think within the first three minutes of a Polanski film, you feel some kind of uneasiness, a sense of instability in the center of your body. He's the king of that...I like [Dean Corso] because in the beginning when you really dislike him, he's bad. But when you grow to like him at the end, he's in fact worse." --Johnny Depp in Wicked magazine, Spring 2000
Rating:
Summary: The Ninth Gate
Review: Roman Polanski's film noir-ish The Ninth Gate (in which rarebook dealer Dean Corso (Depp) is enlisted by collector Boris Balkan(Langella) to search for The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of the Shadows, a book rumored to have been co-written by satan himself), starts off pretty well, but fades fast. What begins as an interesting, engaging quest through bibliophilia and satanism (with Lena Olin along for the ride as a partially clothed wicked witch) ends in something nearing farce, something that made me laugh, and something that might testify to Roman Polanski's weakening powers. Depp's character is a kind of book detective/con-man, and Depp, as usual, gives his all. We first see him bilking a pair of rich folks out of a first edition Don Quixote for four thousand dollars, and most of the first act is dedicated to coloring his character as a sort of mercenary for hire. This characterization of him as a man without morals is very important, as his quest for The Nine Gates (and I'm not giving anything away if you know Polanski) will lead him to both its author, Lucifer, and some very important deliberations about his soul. The book The Nine Gates, if read by the right person, in the right way, can conjure up the devil and send the conjurer to the devil's side. Langella's character, all greed, cash, and ambition, wants to be this man. So do some others. By the end, once he's learned what he can gain, so does Dean Corso. But everything goes to hell, so to speak, fairly quickly, and the plot meanders and stalls. I kept hoping someone, anyone, would step in and send the movie somewhere, turn it up a notch, or even change directions. But no one does. Polanski can't keep away from his same old semi- fantastical and autobiographical mistakes. Sex with mystical beings occurs twice. The mystical beings are, no surprise, females. Rarely, here, does a woman get to be a woman. Two of the three main female characters in the movie are witchy (or something worse) and Depp has peremptory sex with both of them, one time (with the Olin character) for blackmail purposes and one time (with Emmanuelle Seigner's character The Girl) for much higher stakes. The Baroness, played by Barbara Jefford, is the only main female character with any lines to speak of, and with any human characteristics at all. It is no mistake that she's confined to a wheelchair and eventually murdered (by unseen forces) in a horribly goofy way that, at least for me, turned a run of the mill supernatural horror movie into farce and signaled the end of my serious viewing. Does an inherent sexism make for a bad movie? No. Not in my opionion. What makes The Ninth Gate bad is the seeemingly exhausted imagination behind it. If The Ninth Gate is better than Arnold Schwarzennegger's End of Days, another flick about holding hands with the devil, it is because of two reasons: 1. The Ninth Gate is a big, supernatural thriller unconcerned with traditional views of right and wrong. Hell is pictured, by the end, as a desirable goal, and it becomes clear that the devil isn't very interested in the rich and ambitious: he (or she) would rather take a regular Joe (or Johnny) any day. This lack of a traditional moral compass gives The Ninth Gate a freedom to revel in the noir-dom that it does, and allows the key main character to exist. 2. Depp does do an amazing job as Dean Corso, especially if you consider how difficult his job: he needs to be at once our everyman, the desired demon vessel, the pair of eyes we see the story and react through; and, therefore, we have to identify with him, even though Corso (and this is the second part of the job) rarely seems likable, seems in fact (toward the end at least) to be something worse than that--self-involved, vacant, and a lot like us. But Johnny Depp does seem likable, and is therefore able to allow us entry to a story about moral bankruptcy and spiritual deceit. If for no other reason, see this movie for another fine character performance from one of our best clutch actors...
Rating:
Summary: Polanski's mediocre still beats most directors' best
Review: This is a good movie. I saw it in the theater for its sense of place and ominous feeling. The video is worth seeing too. And Frank Langella really knows how to chew the scenery. Love the midnight mass scene where yells 'Boo!' Hilarious.
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