With films like Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby to his credit, director Roman Polanski had been considered a major talent. After an all too personal situation had him banned from the states, it appeared as if his career might be over. In the 80's, he made the disastrous Pirates starring Walter Matthau, then staged a somewhat high-profile comeback with the Harrison Ford thriller Frantic. A couple years back he tried yet again with the underrated Sigourney Weaver mystery Death and the Maiden. Now he's back with The Ninth Gate.

In The Ninth Gate, Johnny Depp plays a book expert hired by Frank Langella to authenticate a book that was ostensibly written by Lucifer. While traveling through Europe, it seems that there are other interested parties threatened by Depp's investigation, who attempt to have him killed.

As the film started, I was quite surprised by how intrigued I actually was. I forgot how terrific Polanski is with suspense. The Ninth Gate has a really dark and eerie tone that, for much of the film, is quite unsettling. Polanski's style is quite reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock. Depp is also convincing as the self serving book expert. He's so good in fact, that you forget that what your watching is all pretty damn silly--typified by a ludicrous satanic ritual sequence.

Sadly, what starts off as an entertaining journey, ends with an unsatisfying conclusion that doesn't add up to squat. The Ninth Gate looks great and gets a big boost from the compelling Depp, but in the end it just goes all to hell.