Some readers may feel this review contains minor spoilers.
THE NINTH GATE is in many ways a typical Roman Polanski film - an examination of flawed people with weaknesses of greed, whether that greed be for power or money. The main character, Dean Corso, is a rare book dealer who knows his profession well, but seemingly out of necessity. His behavior around the legendary and unique volumes he trafficks is careless to the point of making me cringe - smoking, reading a priceless text in train's a dining car with a glass of wine inches away. This is perhaps the only subtle method in which his character is fleshed out - the rest of our opinion of him comes from exposition so unnecessary that he actually attempts to shush a client prattling on about his unscrupulous, cutthroat business practices, echoing my own feeling about the dialogue.
Corso is sent to authenticate a Satanic text for a client who is one step ahead of him. He finds his life in danger almost immediately, and makes a half-hearted attempt to back out - ultimately, another throwaway scene that does more to confuse our opinion of him than clarify it.
I half expected the DVD of this film to contain the mysterious missing scenes that would make up the thrilling part of this thriller. I have no complaints about the pacing of the film, which draws on Hitchcock and film noir as its influences; it is appropriate and used properly. However, I never found myself invested in the journey of Dean Corso to the extent I should have been, and most of all, I felt as though the second act's manipulation of my opinion - making Corso a sympathetic character - was a wasted exercise. What we do not see is the transformation into the Dean Corso at the end of the film, and if we are supposed to believe his final course of action, he should have remained a constant, or else we should have seen his revelation. Instead, I was left at the end wondering when and how he changed his course and goal, though I saw clearly what it had become.
In the featurette that accompanies the film on DVD, Depp talks about enjoying characters to whom the audience reacts with changing opinion. He has a firm grasp of how the story should have progressed, but unfortunately, I feel that Polanski lacked that same perspective, and the film suffers for it. 6/10 for tremendous production values, a beautiful score, and strong performances of all the primary characters in a story that ultimately fails to satisfy.
THE NINTH GATE is in many ways a typical Roman Polanski film - an examination of flawed people with weaknesses of greed, whether that greed be for power or money. The main character, Dean Corso, is a rare book dealer who knows his profession well, but seemingly out of necessity. His behavior around the legendary and unique volumes he trafficks is careless to the point of making me cringe - smoking, reading a priceless text in train's a dining car with a glass of wine inches away. This is perhaps the only subtle method in which his character is fleshed out - the rest of our opinion of him comes from exposition so unnecessary that he actually attempts to shush a client prattling on about his unscrupulous, cutthroat business practices, echoing my own feeling about the dialogue.
Corso is sent to authenticate a Satanic text for a client who is one step ahead of him. He finds his life in danger almost immediately, and makes a half-hearted attempt to back out - ultimately, another throwaway scene that does more to confuse our opinion of him than clarify it.
I half expected the DVD of this film to contain the mysterious missing scenes that would make up the thrilling part of this thriller. I have no complaints about the pacing of the film, which draws on Hitchcock and film noir as its influences; it is appropriate and used properly. However, I never found myself invested in the journey of Dean Corso to the extent I should have been, and most of all, I felt as though the second act's manipulation of my opinion - making Corso a sympathetic character - was a wasted exercise. What we do not see is the transformation into the Dean Corso at the end of the film, and if we are supposed to believe his final course of action, he should have remained a constant, or else we should have seen his revelation. Instead, I was left at the end wondering when and how he changed his course and goal, though I saw clearly what it had become.
In the featurette that accompanies the film on DVD, Depp talks about enjoying characters to whom the audience reacts with changing opinion. He has a firm grasp of how the story should have progressed, but unfortunately, I feel that Polanski lacked that same perspective, and the film suffers for it. 6/10 for tremendous production values, a beautiful score, and strong performances of all the primary characters in a story that ultimately fails to satisfy.