THE NINTH GATE A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
In Roman Polanski's THE NINTH GATE, Johnny Depp plays Dean Corso, a rare book dealer who is looking for a couple of good books. But, like men buying "Playboy", he's only interested in looking at the pictures. Other characters in the movie are dying to read the books. Literally.
Nefarious book collector Boris Balkan (Frank Langella wearing some truly ridiculous glasses) hires Dean to find the other two copies of a book known as The Ninth Gate. Boris, who has a copy himself, tells Dean that one or more of the books may be fakes. Boris wants Dean to compare his copy with the others. Needless to say, Boris isn't exactly telling him the full and complete truth about this antiquarian search.
The story opens with the suicide of the last owner of Boris's copy. There is a lot of foul play afoot. Dean, however, is aided by a gorgeous guardian angel of sorts known only as The Girl (Emmanuelle Seigner). In this extremely predictable story, as soon as The Girl shows up, you can immediately predict whom she's working for and just when she will seduce Dean. For no extra charge, the writers (John Brownjohn and Roman Polanski) throw in an EYES WIDE SHUT subplot.
The most surprising aspect of the movie, given the director, is that it isn't outlandish enough and lacks significant energy. A supernatural thriller that can put you to sleep with its plodding pacing is not exactly a recipe for success.
Johnny Depp, who usually adds something special to any movie with which he's associated, phones in his part this time. Acting remote and uninvolved, he goes through the motions but never gets involved emotionally with his character.
The script bursts with clichéd moments. "You don't know what you're getting into, Mr. Corso," advises one of the book owners. "Get out before it's too late!" There are also sequences with killer drivers who keep missing Dean and one in which his eyeglasses are smashed. I tried thinking of any original scenes in the picture, but I couldn't recall a single one.
The ending is lame and silly. This is especially infuriating since the only reason to sit through the entire movie is the almost academic interest as to exactly how the mystery will be resolved.
THE NINTH GATE runs a long 2:12. The film is rated R for some violence and sexuality and would be acceptable for most teenagers.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
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