Ninth Gate, The (1999)

Synopsis: Rare books are something quite special in Dean Corso's (Johnny Depp) world. He goes around ripping people off and pretty much is the devil in terms of telling people how much things are actually worth. But he is the best! The story begins when he's asked by a very wealthy client to authenticate a book, The Ninth Gate. It is rumored that this book is written by the devil himself and that if you chant the book and solve the puzzle, the prince of darkness will appear! Corso doesn't really believe in this crap but he knows his books and he knows money. So he takes the job sending him to europe to investigate the other two remaining copies of this book. What he finds is more than what he bargained for when he becomes the target of the devil.

Should You Watch It? This movie started out with so much potential. Dean Corso was the perfect anti-hero in many ways. He's the person in society that we all hate, but all want to see change for the better. The set up was clever as well as the direction early on, but once Corso got into Europe things begin to fall apart, story wise. By the end of the film you're really confused because there are just so many inconsistancies and loose ends that doesn't seem to have anything to do with anything. The real frustrating part of it all is that this story would have made a lot more sense if they just took these parts out. It wouldn't have taken away anything from the film but... the point is, the story was too convoluted and it wasn't very satisfying.

Things to Watch Out For: Of course, if you're gonna have a movie about the devil, then there will be biblical references through out. They aren't that important and the ones which are, they give special attention to so you won't miss it. I would have liked to see a better arc for Dean Corso and Johnny does his best to bring it out but it's something you will have to mull over to really get.

Things You Don't Expecct: The ending is expected but it's not satisfying. That's partly because of all the loose ends that weren't tied up, like I mentioned above but another part of it is that there really seems to be no antagonist in this film. Well, there is, but it doesn't seem to threaten Corso more than it threatens the book making the ending anti-climatic.

Final Comments:
Story: 5.4
Direction: 8.0 (Roman Polanski)
Acting: 6.8
Cinematography: 6.0
Music/Sound: 7.5

Final Score: 6.5