The Devil's Advocate (1997)
A movie review by Michael J. Legeros
Copyright 1997 by Michael J. Legeros
(WB)
Directed by Taylor Hackford
Written by Jonathan Lemkin and Tony Gilroy, based on the novel by
Andrew Niederman
Cast Al Pacino, Keanu Reeves, Charlize Theron, Judith Ivey,
Craig T. Nelson, Jeffrey Jones, Ruben Santiago-Hudson,
Connie Nielson
MPAA Rating "R" (presumably for sex, violence, and all that other
good stuff)
Running Time 138 min.
Reviewed at Mission Valley Cinemas, Raleigh, NC (17OCT97)
==
Apart from the enormously entertaining finale, THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE is one Hell of a long sit. Keanu "Now you know why I avoid ocean lin- ers" Reeves plays a hotshot Florida attorney with an unbroken winning streak and one small problem to go along with it: he's increasing sickened by the scum that he's chosen to defend. Before he can reflect on the matter-- or at least give a call to Dr. Laura-- he's offered a dream job in New York City, at a high-powered law firm, where he and his doting wife (Charlize Theron) are given personal attention by the found- er, John "Paradise Lost" Milton (Al Pacino), a cackling, charismatic character who keeps a fire burning in every room, prefers to travel underground, and seems willing to grant their each and every imaginable desire. Hmmmm, could this be... Satan?
If you didn't catch the tell-all trailer, director Taylor Hackford (DOLORES CLAIBORNE) flashes the secret sign at least a double-dozen times. All the usual tricks are trotted out-- quoted scripture, religious imagery, exaggerated sound effects, and, even, a handful of mighty morphin' power demons. (The latter are first imagined/ actually seen by the wife, whose sanity starts to go the moment that she sets foot into their enormous Park Avenue apartment.) The director doesn't sustain that sinister sense of dread, though, and that's one of the fundamental problems right there. The other is an imbalance in plot: we get too much of Reeve's character and not enough of the wife. She descends into madness much too quickly, while it takes forever and a day for him to come back to the moral crisis that got him into trouble in the first place. (Of course, it doesn't help that Reeves is entirely wrong for the role. He doesn't have the swagger that the role requires. Hell, he isn't even fully awake in every scene.)
Damned by a flabby midsection and a stiff leading man, THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE is saved by a strong supporting cast (Heather Matarazzo, Craig T. Nelson, Don King, etc.), sumptuous set design (by Bruno Rubeo), and Pacino's command performance as ol' Scratch. Al plays it cool for most of the movie-- a leer here, a flickered tongue there. For the grand finale, though, he throws the door wide open. You can almost hear the director yelling "more! more!" as Pacino abandons any remaining notion of restraint, tearing into a priceless monologue that allows us to finally hear what the Big L. has to say on the subjects of God ("he's a sadist"), love ("biochemically, it's no different than eating large quantities of chocolate"), and man ("guilt is like a bag of fucking bricks. All you gotta do is set it down"). Even Reeve's mush-mouthed, come-and-go Southern accent can't ruin the moment. I haven't been this grandly entertained in months.
Grade: B-
-- Mike Legeros - Movie Hell http://www.nonvirtual.com/hell/
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