Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Pretty Good

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

I'm a huge Roman Polanski fan and not necessarily of his most famous works. Frantic and The Ghost Writer are among my all-time favorites. This film does not have the story and intrigue of those films, but it is interesting as a mystery. The ending is pretty dumb and unsatisfying; however, the journey there is satisfying and enjoyable. Worth a watch. I rate it a 7 out of 10.

I can't think of a film where I wanted so much for it to succeed yet witnessed absolute failure. The book, the Dumas Club: Ninth Gate, is comfortably between mass junk Da Vinci Code, and if you are not well read, the sublime but less approachable, Foucault Pendulum. And a book detective is a great set up. But the film is terrible. Firstly, I am sorry but Emmanuelle Seigner can NOT act. She just can't. Her sole skill seems to be that she has put up with Polanski as his wife. Lena Olin, Langela and Depp tend toward campy acting, but in the right circumstances can be terrific. In this case their camp is not subdued but amplified and the result is embarrassing. Do yourself a favor: With exactly the first half of the film and then switch it off never to return. Any idiot can imagine a better ending than the mess this descends into.

I first saw this near it's release & was totally oblivious to it's subtle charms. Having re-watched it again, and again, with new eyes & consciousness I must say it's up there with the most cherished films in my collection. I won't give away anything in regards to plot/spoilers but I will say that the beautiful woodcuts in the film bear more attention than the camera gives them. For me The Ninth Gate is Polanski's love letter to the occult, far superior than his other films that dip a toe in those waters and are somehow held in much higher regard. Depp is so superb throughout I could almost forgive him for that Jack Sparrow nonsense (how many though, really?). The supporting cast are all on the money & the score by Wojciech Kilar (Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Pianist) is one to seek out in isolation. If you like the film it's also well worth checking the net for sites expanding & discussing it's themes- The Ninth Gate continues to be appreciated & inspire new audiences many years after it's release.

superb occult horror film , with a good solid cast - fantastic direction from Roman Polanski - deep story line - however as a bibliophile , most of my concentration was concerned with the book collections of the people Johnny Depp tracked down , in his quest to find the remaining copies of the ninth gate & I must admit I did shudder at the thought of how they handled the rare books , but as a horror movie it lived up to all expectations , and was quite fast moving from start to finish , I will be settling down with a couple of beers and a friend , to watch it again very soon.