Review of The Ninth Gate

I have seen every single Roman Polanski feature film ever made. I can strongly say that he is definitely one of the greatest masters of contemporary cinema. He is a director that doesn't follow one path of filmmaking. He specializes in thrillers, but he proved with Chinatown and Tess that he is capable of masterpiece filmmaking. Personally I prefer him as a cult status director. The subjects of his films are based on the macabre; this reputation has caused him to become one of the greatest and most controversial directors ever. As any Polanski connoisseur knows he fled to France and has reside there ever since. His last film was Death and the Maiden. A project he took because he needed the money. Nevertheless it was a good movie. Afterwards he disappeared from the face of the earth until he began filming a project based on the genre he was familiar with, a supernatural thriller based on the occult. This project is called The Ninth Gate. I was very eager to see this movie mainly because I love Polanski's movies. Now that it has finally been released here in the US I am happy yet sad. I went to see it opening night, which was this Friday, March 10th. I left the theater somewhat disappointed. It seems that Polanski has spent those years off partying in France. His style has somewhat been lost; his emphasis on creating a psychological thriller is not there. Instead we have a slow paced film which ends up looking rather silly. Some guy said that there were fighting scenes that resembled The Matrix's fighting scenes, I'm not sure which film he saw but there was nothing of the sort. There was however a shot where you seen Polanski's beautiful wife Emmanuelle Seigner fly, and kick some guy's butt. I don't know but I felt that was quite silly. The burning castle sex scene, which everyone keeps complaining about, is quite pointless although it does serve a purpose within the story. I really wanted to like this movie, unfortunately I couldn't find a good reason to, except that it's A Roman Polanski Film. The film had a lot of potential of being something great but it failed. Sure I was disappointed, but you have to love the film for what it has to offer.