Julian RuncanThe Ninth Gate: Doesn't Open Enough
May 29th 2010 11:56
Mystery movies can be pretty hard to pull off, so any attempt should be admired. Some audiences will never understand what's happening, some will figure it out all too quickly, but in the riddle itself shouldn't really matter. Movies are all about the ride anyway. Sadly, The Ninth Gate wasn't a ride, more of a crash.
The Ninth Gate managed to take a neat idea, and turn it into a complete failure of a mystery film. Everything is incredibly clichéd, and Johnny Depp's character spends most of the time clueless, getting played by everyone.This worked really well in Chinatown, but this time around the truth is so obvious that it's all just frustrating.
The acting is fine and most of the direction good, but the ending was unfairly rushed. The film's mysteries are worked out slowly and by the time the audience is told what's happening, they've either figured it out on their own or stopped caring. Obviously, every audience wants to sit through a boring, slow-paced, and painfully obvious conspiracy that has no payoff.
I'll admit that I might be unfairly harsh towards The Ninth Gate, but I truly felt cheated. The movie sounded like a great concept that could make for an intriguing film, but the result was lame, clichéd, obvious, and boring. It took clichés and genre conventions from private eye films, added a supernatural twist, and barely delivered on both counts.
4.5/10
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Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
As you said at the start of your review "Movies are all about the ride." Precisely. In fact even Polanski states that the most important element of a movie is atmosphere. The Ninth Gate drips with atmosphere. And it's drenched in character, another incredibly important movie element.
Personally I enjoyed the way as a thriller Depp's character isn't your usual super-smart pseudo-detective. Sure, it's obvious that Frank Langella's ominous character is in league with the Devil, that's pretty clear from the get-go, and the shadiness of Emmanuelle Siegner's dark angel is pretty apparent also, but that's not important. The movie works best as a very black comedy of errors. Perhaps I'm biased, I love almost everything Polanski has made.
You can read my review here, if you're interested.