'The Ninth Gate' is an instant classic, a tasteful, idiosyncratic, and tactfully executed film on the occult knowledge so many know nothing of, a film of powerful symbology. This film is an ode to the uninitiated, demonstrating how the occult world and its knowledge is more commonplace and 'real' than we might believe, it surrounds us, it is us.At all times, 'The Ninth Gate' makes the viewer question its directions and motives, even the lead character, Corso (Johnny Depp), cannot be trusted, everything is expendable, with a lingeringly somber feeling of danger and fragility at every twist and turn. Corso comes from the Latin 'cursus' meaning 'course'; the events that unfold become a prophesy that Corso is on a 'course' to fulfill from the very start, this is a reference to the left and right hand paths and how our choices affect everything, Corso chose marriage with the covenant of Satan, The Girl (Emmanuelle Seigner), the antilight. 9 is the number of Satan, the number of base consciousness, the ego.In the Satanic Rituals (THE UNKNOWN KNOWN) Anton LaVey speaks ambiguously and enigmatically about the number 9 being the main number of which to identify with Satan and the ego. "Despite other's attempts to identify a certain number with Satan (meaning 666), It will be known that Nine is his number. Nine is the number of the Ego, for it always returns to itself. No matter what is done through the most complex multiplication of Nine by any other number, in the final equation nine alone will stand forth." - Anton LaVey, The Satanic RitualsThe number 9 also refers to Yesod node of the tree of life, Yesod channels, the feminine Malkuth receives (sex act, as in the film). In turn, it is through Malkuth that the earth is able to interact with the divinity. This may be what is portrayed in the events detailed in the film.'The Ninth Gate' is one of Roman Polanski's greatest works, threading together an engaging psychological thriller with a philosophical and theological backing that keeps the whole piece held in an air of mystery and suspense.The sets are Gothic and gloomy, the music is aptly fitting, the acting and scripts even more so; nothing breaks the persistent, unshakable scene and tone that is set by Polanski, who has obviously taken into careful consideration every possible factor to create a deeply immersive, memorable experience for the viewer.9.7/10

the film is great when the protagonist begins the journey. reluctantly taking on the task of locating a book nearly lost to time but all copies are being collected. nefarious cults and a mysterious helper cloud his mind as he faces death and if forced to do what he doesn't wish to do. seriously there is a jump off a cliff in the end i recommend shutting the movie off when the green eyes make sense. all that comes after is a crappy cartoony light and castle i admit a good ending to this film would have been difficult an Polanski didn't meet it.Depp is great in his role

I have no idea how I'd have rated this had they indexed the movie with more attention.This movie basically is an adventure with a bit of comedy sprinkled along in it. It actually has more comedic elements in it than thriller. It promises for more and fails to deliver only because the single twist it's supposed to have, is no twist really. You just watch what you already know unfold in the wake of the plot.This is a nice movie to watch with perhaps some memorably funny moments. Its slow pacing isn't intended for suspense, it rather contributes to the movie's secretive atmosphere which is hard to find nowadays in adventure & mystery movies. Some scenes and settings look like they are taken straight out of a tale. Something Polanski has a knack for, I believe. These scenes that set the atmosphere of the movie are of course finely attuned to its overall beautifully crafted cinematography. I mean to say the mood is consistent throughout the movie and I deem this a success most of the time.I loved Langhella's performance. All the actors in this movie are really talented, except maybe Emanuelle Seigner. She is fine but with all the talented actors setting the bar high, her craft falls behind a bit. The twins were really fun to watch.The problem has to do with the content of the story rather than the storyline. In a movie with a secretive atmosphere like this where tension is slowly built up towards unraveling the unknown you also anticipate an elaboration on details that would render that "unknown" something worthy of knowing. You expect the discovery to be something worth your while, and when it ends up in a revelation you thought the director already made in the first half of the movie, because it fails to meet the expectation this secretive atmosphere has evoked in you so as to imply there is more to it, you realize the rest of the story was maybe supposed to be an adventure and you failed to recognize it and it disappoints you. Either that, or, Polanski failed to meet the demand he himself had created by giving clues early on. Since I am the audience, I consider the latter to be the case.This is not a drawback. This is a major flaw in a movie otherwise pleasant to watch. But pleasant is relative, so...

On so many levels, this movie is a dark comedy.Gee- Johnny Depp goes down wit da devil - HERSELF !hehCount the times Shell oil is in this movie.I just can't figure out if they're making some point that Shell oil, hell and Satan are all combined.Who knows, maybe the senior executives at Shell oil all belong to one of these bang-a-boo-boo- orgy key party swingers post marital crisis scenes.'Have you seen her SECRETARY?' great line- you'll remember that one. hehAnd what's with the grapefruits?I STILL argue this movie has a strangely suspicious side theme of Shell oil in here.It was Shell oil that destroyed the Amazon, I supposed that's close enough to evil.Nothing beats Johnny Depp though doin' down wit da devil... Could have been one helluva embedded Trojan ad I suppose.'Yes, the devil does prefer use of a condom' ? Something tells me dat devil had some plans up her sleeve to give birth to someone.Probably a sequel.Then again post Depp's divorce, I think he'd probably had it with the ninth gate of hell.LOVES me some Depp's'z's - great movie - watch for the Shell oil scenes... REAL strange... it's as if this is the work of Kubrick.