The Ninth Gate

Johnny Depp is near his best in this devilishly demonic detective story. He is an unscrupulous, but knowledgable, New York rare book dealer who is charged by the millionaire Frank Langella to authenticate a text. "The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows" may or may not be able to summon the devil - or, at least, bestow the owner with some semblance of Satanic power. His search for the truth involves deceit, lust, many murders and a cat and mouse game with deadly consequences. Emmanuelle Seigner is suitably enigmatic as "the girl" - a sort of angelic person with ninja skills and Lena Olin hams it all up nicely as the sex-kitten (with claws) baddie. I enjoyed this; it is a complex supernatural thriller that doesn't try to impress with cheap special effects (though the music can be a little annoying at times); it's well written with a strong cast. At 2½ hours, however, it is too long; there are plenty of establishing shots that could have been trimmed/dumped to up the pace a bit more.