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The Ninth Gate (1999)

DVD Cover (Lions Gate)
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Overall Rating 57%
Overall Rating
Ranked #985
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Dean Corso, a somewhat sleazy rare book dealer, is hired by a mysterious patron who has just come into possession of one of the only three copies of The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows (a 17th century occult text said to give its owner unimaginable power). The man hires Corso to track down the other two copies and compare them to his, but complications - both natural and supernatural - arise at every turn. --IMDb
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Review by Griffinheart
Added: September 30, 2007
When I started the movie, I was thinking 9/10. Now, every time I think about it, the score drops a point. In line with public school education, I've decided thinking is bad and so here's the review.

Johnny Depp stars as Dean Corso, a sort-of literary mercenary, who is hired by the rich Boris Balkan to track down two copies of a rare book: The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows. This book is said to be the author's interpretation of a now lost text which was written by the devil himself. Balkan owns the only other known copy of that book and is convinced only one of the three copies is genuine. While the size of the check Corso receives stifles most questions about Balkans motives, there are rumors that the book contains great power and possibly the ability to summon the Great One to our plane. In comparing the copies, Corso notices that their are discrepancies among the engravings between the three copies of the books. However, before his analysis is complete, everyone around him starts to die...

I almost didn't make it through this movie. While it has great acting and an intriguing plot, its goodness is stretched over 133 minutes of turgid pacing. Most of the events in the movie are easily predicted: "My goodness, everyone around me is dying. It certainly couldn't be the excessively rich guy that hired me who is obsessed with discovering this book's secrets at all costs..."

Overall, this movie was better than most out there, but it isn't good enough to hang with the greats. I've thought about it enough that it's finally settled at a 6/10.

Plus, the picture of Johnny Depp on the cover really looks like Gordon Freeman from Half Life. It weirds me out a little.
BuryMeAlive #1: BuryMeAlive - added September 30, 2007 at 7:34am
SPOILER: Johnny Depp as the devil, that's cool but yeah the movie is pretty slow.
bluemeanie #2: bluemeanie - added October 1, 2007 at 12:11pm
Slow is an understatement. This film is just painful to sit through. I remember seeing it and thinking what a huge waste it was. Normally, Roman Polanski can do slow and make it interesting ("Rosemary's Baby", "The Tenant"). Not here. Solid performances from Johnny Depp and Frank Langella are not enough to keep this film from just boring the HELL out of you. 3/10.
Ginose #3: Ginose - added December 6, 2009 at 2:48pm
I fucking hate Polanski, and this movie may be one of the biggest reasons.
1.1/10
Lucid Dreams #4: Lucid Dreams - added July 17, 2010 at 3:33pm
It had a lot of potential, but it was a bore fest. 4/10
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