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The Movie:
As I started to watch "The Ninth Gate", I found myself enjoying the film. It does sort of go on its own conservative pace as the film begins, but it has a sort of confidence in itself, as if it knows where it's going and all it needs for you to do is follow it on its journey. For a while I was more than happy to do so, but after a point, I still found myself waiting for something to happen. As it came to an end, hardly anything had happened. A film that sat on the shelf waiting to be released for a while, "The Ninth Gate" isn't a total loss, but it's not a very good film.
The movie stars Johnny Depp as Dean Corso, a rare books dealer that isn't always as honest as he could be. He's hired by Boris Balkan(Frank Langella) to find the other copies of the book that he has found himself a copy of - "The Ninth Gate", a book that was supposedly authored by the Devil. Balkan wants Corso to compare the two other remaining copies to his, but of course, it's not going to be that easy.
He runs into a rather moody woman named Liana, who wants the book back in no uncertain terms. She's not the only one, as Corso barely escapes some tense situations now and again. If only the movie had any sort of tension, though. The film starts off acting as if it's confidently going somewhere. After about 45 minutes, it becomes apparent that this is definitely not the case. There is a difference between careful pacing and just plain slow - "The Ninth Gate", after only a little while, begins to fall into the latter.
The film actually looks pretty good, with its shadowy, dark tone and feel, but director Roman Polanski doesn't really build the story enough for us to remain interested in the entire focus of the tale, which is following Corso from location to location as he tracks down more information about the book. Deep is a good actor, no doubt, but this certainly is neither the best performance of his nor the most interesting character he's played. We don't find out much about Corso and he's not really a very sympathetic or likable character, or even an engaging one.
I still think that Roman Polanski is a great director who has done fine work in the past, but "The Ninth Gate" is certainly not his best work - at its best, the film is a rather aimless picture that has a moment here, a moment there, but is seriously lacking in energy or the slightest bit of tension. A dissapointment.
The DVD
VIDEO: Artisan has done some great work in the past on titles such as "The Limey" and generally, they are a studio with a fine track record. Although "The Ninth Gate" is a pretty good effort, there are some problems here that take away from the overall presentation. When this looks good though, it looks very pleasing. The film is not exactly a terribly vibrant one (it's not one of those happy movies about evil), but it does has an interesting look about it, with some interesting shots and a shadowy look. Sharpness is not a problem here, as the majority of the movie looks nicely sharp. Detail and clarity are fine as well, with the movie looking well-defined. As for colors, well, as I previously mentioned, this isn't a very colorful movie, but the sort of dark color scheme looks accurate and well-done here. Flesh tones are fine as well.
Where does the transfer go wrong? Well, it could be a little smoother and a little cleaner looking. There are some noticable instances of shimmering and there are some places where small marks on the print used are apparent. Again though, when the image quality does go right - as with some of the dim, shadowy sequences, the image looks rather "film-like". Not bad, not bad at all - but a few touches could have brought it a little closer to perfect.
SOUND: I was slightly dissapointed that the sound on "The Ninth Gate" didn't take more advantage of the possibilities in front of it. I know that the film is primarily a dialogue-driven piece, but when there is a film as creepy as this one seems to think it is, you would think that a more expanded sound mix would be slightly helpful in gaining the audience's involvement. Either way, the general quality of what is presented is quite nice; the score has a very rich, very deep feel to it that makes for a pleasing listening experience and adds to the haunting feel. Surrounds are used occasionally, but certain scenes could have been helped by further participation from them. Dialogue is fine, easily understood and clear. Nothing particularly remarkable, but serves its purpose.
MENUS:: .
EXTRAS::
Commentary: This is a commentary from director Roman Polanski. Although I wasn't terribly thrilled with the prospect of going through "The Ninth Gate" once again, the idea of having a director like Polanski as a tour guide seemed appealing, so I gave it a try, and wasn't dissapointed. Polanski seems genuinely energetic about sharing a discussion about the movie, and he does quite a fine job, with very few pauses throughout the track.
He splits the discussion well between the technical aspects of the film, sharing stories from the set and the usual - comments about what it was like working with the actors. I found what he shared about the technical part particularly interesting, especially when he discusses how he worked with his crew to creat a look and feel for the movie, as well as some of the tales of production problems.
The rest of the comments are primarily a pretty engaging discussion of the story and themes of the film. Although I still don't care for the film, I found the director's viewpoints on the events of the movie to be pretty entertaining and informative. All in all, it's a pretty cool commentary and interesting to hear from a director like Polanski.
Trailers: The film's theatrical trailer(Dolby Digital 5.1) as well as two ads that are also in Dolby Digital 5.1, which offer particularly nice sound.
Also: A featurette, which starts promisingly but ends within a matter of a couple minutes as well as an isolated score(Dolby 2.0).
Final Thoughts: "The Ninth Gate" is a dissapointing film that starts off promisingly, but takes a long time to eventually go nowhere. Artisan's DVD is pretty good, with fine image quality and audio that is fine in quality, but not terribly creative. Polanski's commentary is the most interesting feature included. Recommended, at most, as a rental.
Film Grade
The Film C-
DVD Grades
Video 86/B = (344/400 possible points)
Audio: 84/B = (336/400 possible points)
Extras: 83/B = (249/300 possible points)
Menus: 85/B = (170/200 possible points)
Value: 82/B = (246/300 possible points)
TOTAL POINTS:1342/1600
DVD GRADE:B/83%
FILM GRADE: C-
DVD GRADE: B
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