The Ninth Gate
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Movie Reviews of The Ninth Gate
Movie Review: EYE-ROLLING STUPIDITY 4 OUT OF 10
Summary: 2 Stars
You'd think a film about finding the gateway to Hell might be interesting, but no. The Ninth Gate is a disastrous film and is a film I'm sure Johnny Depp would rather forget. This is probably one of the dumbest (And most boring) religious thrillers ever made. It's inconsistent, jumbled, confused, and not quite sure what it wants to be. Here's my opinion for why I think you should keep this gate closed.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Dean Corso (Johnny Depp) is a man who is hired by avid book collectors to track down rare books and investigate their authenticity. He is then hired by a man named Boris Balkan who wants him to investigate the authenticity of a book he recently acquired that supposedly can conjure the devil and open the gateway to Hell. So he gives Dean Corso the book and sends him to Portugal and France to compare it with two other copies that are about the same topic, but have different things about them such as differences in pictures. But then people start dropping dead around Corso, and someone is out to kill him and get the book. Along his journey to finding out the mystery to the Ninth Gate, he meets a mysterious woman who seems to have powers (I couldn't help but shake my head when there were scenes in which she glides down to Corso). Together they are taken on a dangerous journey full of mystery, deceit, and devil worship. The story doesn't go anywhere interesting and you're left bored senseless at the ridiculous plot.
MUSIC: This is one of the only areas of the film that actually worked. The musical score was decent and it seemed to fit the mood for the most part, but it was kind of dreary and dull at times.
ACTION: This film is very dull. This film can't seem to decide what it wants to be. Sometimes it tries to be a thriller. Sometimes a horror film. Sometimes a mystery. Sometimes it tries to be action. Sometimes it tries to be suspense. The problem here is the fact that none of these areas work. This in turn, turns the film into a garbled and inconsistent mess. It doesn't work as a thriller because well, there is nothing thrilling about it. It's not horror because it just isn't scary at all. It's not mystery because it's a cliched mess in which it doesn't take all that much time to figure out whose behind it. It's not action because it's badly done and full of terrible fight scenes. Then it doesn't work as suspense because you're never afraid (Not to mention excited) about what comes next because you already know what's going to happen. Let's also not forget this film features some of the most pointless sex/nude scenes I've ever seen. They are not done tastefully and they are laughable. Sadly, you can't pull a "so bad it's good" value out of this film, so don't even try.
ACTING: Johnny Depp is a good actor in most of his films, but he clearly dropped the ball in this film. He looked and sounded bored through the entire film as if wondering to himself, "Why the hell am I even here? I was in Sleepy Hollow and Edward Scissorhands, dammit! Is this what I've reduced myself to?" The other actors don't fare any better and are actually worse. Many of the actors seem comatose in their roles and display no emotion or believability. Then when the villains get into worshiping Satan you can't help but mock them because it's completely ridiculous and certainly in no way terrifying. When the actors do try and display emotion, they come off as a complete joke. Casting mishaps are aplenty in this film. But then again, I don't know whether I should blame the actors or the script, or maybe both. Still, this area is a complete mess.
OVERALL: While it may have a few interesting scenes and decent music, that will never excuse how bad of a mess this film is. It tries to be too many things at one, and it doesn't succeed at any of the genres it tries to be. It's a dreadfully dull film with no mystery or intrigue because you can always guess what happens next thanks to the terrible, cliched script. It has no good acting and you won't care about what happens to any of these people. A dull and thoroughly un-thrilling religious thriller that's also emotionally removed. Skip it.
THE GOOD: A few interesting scenes and decent music.
THE BAD: Terrible script, bad acting, it's dull and slow-moving, no scares, no mystery, no thrills, no cool action moments, and it's definitely not suspenseful.
Movie Review: The only point of this movie is the nudity...
Summary: 2 Stars
Because I've become somewhat of a Depp fan in recent years, I picked up The Ninth Gate from a $5 bargain bin at walmart.I had never heard of the movie and the premise was wonderfully intriguing and full of potential. Unfortunately the movie did not fully take advantage of this potential. I actually enjoyed the first 70% of the movie. The mystery alone had me glued me to the screen. In the last half our or so, however, all of the movie's worth was nullified. I enjoy a movie that leaves questions unanswered, but this movie left the WRONG questions. Because of this blunder, the story didn't matter to me and, in the end, it seemed that the entire point of the movie was to facilitate two nude scenes.
If you're into movies that are just for nudity, I'm sure there are better ones out there. If you're looking for a wonderfully compelling and thought provoking story, I suggest you look elsewhere. I, for one, want my $5 back...
~Ben H
Movie Review: Doesn't load right on my player
Summary: 2 Stars
I don't know if this is a problem with this title only, buy I have gotten two of these DVDs and both won't load properly on my DVD player. It may be a problem with my model player, but this is the only DVD I've run into that problem with. Region number and all check out, so suggest that if you have a Philips DVD player one might watch out for this.
Update: 6/3/09: 2000 version of this DVD played without a problem so it must be something this DVD has the the 2000 release didn't. I still like the movie, even with the problem with the newer DVD.
Movie Review: I rate the product, not the movie
Summary: 2 Stars
In my case, I bought The ninth gate because I saw it many times and I have the original Book, El Club Dumas, the story catch you and make you feel like Lucas Corso... mistery, suspense, history, romance, humor... BUT, I need the DVD with spanish subtitles to share the movie with my family and TREE TIMES I receive it without subtitles, it's too bad wait for a wrong product... tree times. But for the movie, I give five stars, excellent.Movie Review: Polanski's last plodding steps
Summary: 2 Stars
Fluff. With a certain Agatha Christie quality. No great meditation on Good and Evil. Just a shallow diversion to pass an evening. It descends into low comedy when Emmanuelle Seigner flies down a staircase and gives the villain a karate kick. I think a lot of people would turn the movie off at this point. As a matter of fact, I did. I couldn't imagine something further along that could justify this foolishness.