THE DEVIL'S OWN (1997) A film review by Nick Schaden Copyright 1997 Nick Schaden
"The Devil's Own" has plenty of good movie elements: smooth acting, reputable actors & well orchestrated action sequences. It's almost a crime to see "The Devil's Own" fall so far flat on its back with it's sappy, predictable and harshly failed plot.
Frankie McGuire (Brad Pitt, complete with long hairdo and phony Irish accent) as a young child watches his daddy get blown away by British supporters. Naturally Frankie devotes his life to revenge and becomes a terrorist working for the IRA. Suddenly (apparently to show how tough Frankie is) we see a huge shoot-out sequence where IRA terrorists blow away around 30 cops during an ambush, with much of the carnage done by Frankie himself. Such is the most inherent problem with the movie: it tries to be something it isn't. Through much of the drama it seems that director Alan J. Pakula is shooting for the audience to feel sympathy for Frankie, to really put a personality behind the cold blooded IRA killer, to show reasons and motivation (good or bad) for Frankie's actions. But as noted above, seeing the cold blooded work that Frankie does and continues to do throughout "The Devil's Own" makes the audience have no sympathy for the man. Maybe Frankie could have been in the IRA but not a trigger man, maybe we could see more footage of horrible acts that we're inflicted upon Frankie to "justify" his savageness. Nevertheless, no matter how much "sappiness" and dramaticism that director Pakula throws at us, I can't feel sympathy for a person that in return for his father's murder turns around and murders thirty of the enemy in cold blood.
Major plot problems aside, the movie has a few aces up its sleeve. Brad Pitt fulfills his acting role well, and Harrison Ford (as Tom O'Meara, a "Ward Cleaver" honest NYPD cop that fights within himself over Frankie's plight) does an excellent job. In addition, the tension and plot does have its bright spots. However, by the somewhat predictable end to "The Devil's Own" I had a rather sour taste left in my mouth, seeing yet another movie fall from being a winner to simply being average.
Nick's Rating: 0
*** Movies rated from -4 (worst) to +4 (best), 0 = average movie ***
-- Nick Schaden Send your comments to: cpunut@uslink.net Check out all of Nick's reviews at: http://uslink.net/~cpunut/movies.html
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