La nona porta

Right now, the average grade of this movie, here on IMDb is 6.6 A coincidence?

"Ninth Gate" is another, after cult classic 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968), example of critically acclaimed and controversial director's Roman Polanski... fascination with evil.

The story looks simple. A rare book dealer Dean Corso (Johny Depp) gets an assignment to compare - by first finding the missing ones - the three last copies of a medieval "Ninth Gate of the Kingdom of Shadows". Of course the hunt for the book, gets more and more complicated as strange things begin to happen and Corso gets himself involved in something beyond imagination...

"Ninth Gate" brings out of memory the "Devil's Advocate" with Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino but in many ways it's totally different. First - Roman Polanski proves he is such acclaimed director for a reason. In every scene, you feel his existence, you feel that almost every scene has its powerful significance. Part of that is great, cold and suspenseful Cinematography. Great Score by Wojciech Kilar adds to the climate of the movie.

Johny Depp is great as always, and in the seconds plan actors you won't find a bad one. The screenplay is witty, there is unexpected humour in a lot of situations which makes it an easy, fun watch until... the ending. The ending turns the movie into a dark thriller leaving lot of things open, unsaid. We can almost FEEL the evil, in the end.

7/10

I loved this film, the opulence and wonderful European locations. A film that is truly atmospheric and very special. A cast of excellent actors, Depp, Langella and Olin to name just three, certainly not a mainstream film that was going to break any box office records but a good psychologically addictive film exploring the occult. If history, books and the darker side of human nature interest you then you will find this film fascinating. Depp plays the part of a very focused, self serving and amoral loner hired by the owner of a book said to be co written by the Devil himself. Depp is to trace the authenticity of the only two remaining books thought to possibly be copies, held in private book collections in France and Portugal. Well worth watching

What makes this movie rather unique in this day-and-age is to see a horror- occult movie that has very little action. That may turn off a lot of modern-day viewers and critics but I thought it was refreshing.....as long as the story could still keep one's attention, which it did. It also did it with a pretty long movie: 133 minutes. I have played this movie several times for friends and no one has gotten bored.

The attraction is (1) decent acting; (2) some great sets; (3) an involving story; (4) interesting characters and (5) low profanity.

What keeps most viewers interested is simply wondering what is going to happen next in "Dean Corso's" (Johnny Depp) quest to figure out the hidden message. Without giving anything away, this is a classy, solid thriller.....and more importantly, fun to watch.

Tall order to make books scary, but this baby does it! Also it has by FAAAARRRR the best and coolest 'meet the devil' scene EVER! And no it's not some pointy guy with horns saying hello. Watch the movie and you'll see... (damn I just got chills thinking about it). OK OK I'll let you in on a secret - devil lives in the burning fire of destruction and is embodied in your lover (ok still doesn't make sense till you see the movie).

Well Johnny Depp is a quite good actor I must say, and shooting this thingy all around Europe gives it a fresh 'travel channel' vibe while you go about chasing down demon relics and whatnot - even makes me long for a stay in some of those funky little hotels! :) I must visit! Maybe I shal meet El Diablo...

This is a very VERY elegant horror movie. NO bloody gutsy to speak of - but lots of good plot things happening and just all around very 'cool'.

I think this movie was very fabulous. I was fortunate enough to see without any kind of idea about movie beforehand. Didn't see the move from beginning or whole, basically just stayed watching after wandering front of TV. Had no idea what movie was about.

Why this movie is fabulous is because it ambiguous. Reading many comments here, I got bit better insight what movie was about. I admit also missing few things, but fortunately got most parts right in first try.Movie has good mix of ominous events and old mysteries hidden in books that leave you wonder for a while.

But I'm not totally convinced about the accuracy of many interpretations what I've read . What I do think is that Polankski made a movie, that actually imitated how mysteries work.

He creates patterns us to see in interpret, but actually leaves us to figure out on ourselves what they mean. What they mean to us actually, not necessarily what he meant, if he even meant anything at all with them. Some patters lead to something, others to many things as they are vague or nowhere. Devilish stuff - or just normal mysteries worldwide.

How movie ends is exactly like that.

Most interesting question I find after watching movie was the idea of Devil in the movie. I actually didn't get the notion Devil was most evil person in the movie.Way Boris acted later on the movie when he address cultist, I think sort of crystallized what the movie was about.Devil can't make you do anything evil, if you don't want to. And then you probable would do it anyway without Devil. So why worship something for it, if target is anyway selfish not caring about you and you do what you do anyway? And why would Devil care about then do you worship him or not?

I think that was the main joke in the movie. Corso in the movie differs rest of characters in way the he doesn't actually believe in Devil. He is just motivated by self interest and probable by intrigue. Thats why he is main character and sort of picked above other persons in the movie. That also means he also actually has something to offer for Devil, as his self interest connects to Devils. So Devil is rational in this movie besides Corso, others are more or less loose cannons that actually have nothing worthwhile to offer. Lesson here: rational people are motivated by self interest.

So why does no one ask in the movie why the books were created in the first place? Its interesting though to believe somebody would create people something wonderful just to grasp, but why would anyone, especially Devil, do it without some use for himself? Devil wouldn't, but most people after books never stop and think about it. And thats how many cultists think, they aren't rational in their beliefs. Part of the movie actually shows how funny cultist are, even the Devil they worship can be seen amused by them.

In this movie, Devil looks far more person that really doesn't care about something unless it really benefits him/her.

But like I said, you can get other interpretations from it, just my 5 cents.