I have a bachelor's degree in history, yet I couldn't make heads or tails of "The Ninth Gate". The plot is somewhat interesting for the first hour, despite some obvious cliches. In the last half-hour, the movie falls apart. I was really disappointed because I like Johnny Depp a lot and was hoping for a good movie on this interesting subject.
My take on what went wrong with this film is that Polanski tried to make a mainstream movie, with the requisite amount of sex and violence, about a subject which is unconventional. We didn't need the over-the-top scenes of hellfire and burning buildings toward the end, but someone must have thought we did.
The plot was also ridiculously complicated for the last half-hour. Two of the main characters (Frank Langella and Lena Olin) are betrayed, as act completely uncharacteristically in order to serve the convoluted and histrionic final scenes. Don't bother with this poor film. 4/10.
My take on what went wrong with this film is that Polanski tried to make a mainstream movie, with the requisite amount of sex and violence, about a subject which is unconventional. We didn't need the over-the-top scenes of hellfire and burning buildings toward the end, but someone must have thought we did.
The plot was also ridiculously complicated for the last half-hour. Two of the main characters (Frank Langella and Lena Olin) are betrayed, as act completely uncharacteristically in order to serve the convoluted and histrionic final scenes. Don't bother with this poor film. 4/10.