Movie 20 - The Devil's Advocate (1997) , Dir. Taylor Hackford.
The movie is about a lawyer, Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves), who is known for getting even the guiltiest clients free, has his life in disarray when he meets another lawyer, John Milton (Al Pacino).
The movie depicts quite well some of the evils in our world. I would definitely say this is a part-horror movie because of some of the gore scenes and the CGI of the devilish faces that look quite scary.
Mary Ann's (Charlize Theron) descent into madness and craziness was one of the most difficult things to see, the scenes of her seeing devilish faces and the scene in the church are just unnerving to watch. I initially thought that she was just going crazy and being too clingy and nervous, but turns out she was just constantly being gaslit and ignored. Pretty much all of her scenes will make you feel uncomfortable.
Plot-wise, the story is pretty stable, the law, the relationship with his wife, the cases. There are no huge time jumps between events making it so the story stays fresh and smooth.
The train scene where Milton is telling a stranger his partner is cheating on him and was able to convince the stranger to kill the partner and her lover somehow was perfect in the sense of tone and setting of the movie. It didn't feel out of place at all and was just calmly chaotic.
This rendition of the Devil/Satan is by far the best portrayal I have seen. The simple mind-fucks, the charm, not having to use ridiculous techniques. The way he baits the temptation and slowly lures you in just makes sense. He just dangled the bait in front of Kevin, and he Kevin ate it right up. This is similar to Ares in Wonder Woman (2017) where they show that Ares doesn't do anything, he just shows the paths and lets the humans choose.
Al Pacino's acting is on another level. He has done yet another wonderful job of being charming yet being capable of tricking the other person so easily.
Keanu Reeves' southern accent was awful. It sounded very out of place. He kept shifting from regular to southern, making it tickle your ears weirdly.
The reveal of the relation of Milton and Lomax was not necessary. The story of Milton and Lomax having a mentor - mentee relationship was good and it got ruined by the father angle just a little bit.
The Milton monologue during the climax about why he did what he did felt out of place and too long. He just kept blabbering about Satan, God, and things in the Bible that made very little sense. The ending i.e. Lomax's death was surprising, and the following scene of the place bursting into flames and the devil transformations were actually quite good. The wall art behind Milton that comes to life is also good.
The end of the movie where they show that this was all in his mind, leading him to choose a different path is actually not bad. When they eventually reveal that the reporter is Satan i.e. Al Pacino, it is in a manner a full-circle moment where you realize that the devil will always find a way to get what he wants just by giving you what you think you want.
I'm not a spiritual person, but if someone were to ask me how the devil works? My answer would be the portrayal of the devil in this movie. 8/10
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My next review is going to be Shutter Island (2010)
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