"The Ninth Gate" poses something of a problem for me. I enjoy a lot of the elements. I got invested in the story, was bent on figuring out who the mysterious girl was, and liked Johnny Depp’s performance. Unfortunately, I really, really dislike the ending.

Dean (played by Depp) is an unscrupulous rare book dealer/hunter. A book about the 9 Gates may hold the secret to conjuring up the Devil himself, and the owner of one of these books wants to unlock the secrets. He sends Dean on an investigative mission to check all of the existing books and discover what mysteries they hold. Dean accepts for financial reasons but soon learns this is going to be a perilous mission as he delves into a world of the supernatural and criminal elements that want for themselves the power therein.

It’s something of a puzzle movie not unlike an Indiana Jones movie (though with much less action/adventure) or National Treasure. Put together the clues to uncover the whole picture -- except that the final product is abstract, much more so than the movies I just compared it to. Sometimes some ambiguity within a story can be fun as it leads to individual interpretations and discussion of ideas. Indeed it might have been with this one despite some of the weaknesses if I didn’t find the direction of the clues so distasteful.

It's not just distaste that's an issue here, though. There are narrative weaknesses as well. For one thing, the last puzzle piece seems hastily contrived. Director Polanski himself doesn’t seem completely satisfied with the way this final piece plays out. Up to this point though, there has been a logical and believable story to the ancient clues. The ancient books, their survival, and the lore surrounding them are logically laid out. The final element jumps out of nowhere with an explanation that is at best open for speculation. It doesn’t have the same logically traceable orientation that the other clues do.

That might be forgivable if the rest of the picture weren’t so murky. What is the true nature of what these books are supposed to unlock? Are the legends about that even true seeing as how there was so much misconception about the rest of the legend? What is Dean’s fate or the Devil’s plans for him? There are so many unanswered questions without enough information to provoke enough speculation. I'll lay out a few more issues when I talk about the spiritual elements.

Aside from my problems with the end I found the story engaging, the characters interesting, and the portrayals predominantly believable. The pacing is somewhat slow (compared to the more adventurous Indiana Jones movies) which works fine for the narrative as the story unfolds, but it makes me wonder how well it would do as a repeat viewing. There isn’t much use for a lot of flashy special effects so the movie retains a down-to-earth look for the most part. We never see a winged demon or anything of that nature. This helps sell the reality of the film which in turn contrasts against the supernatural elements.