Movie Review: The Devil’s Advocate
The Devil’s Advocate is the story of Satan, played here by Al Pacino, and his quest to groom a young and talented attorney named Kevin played by Keanu Reeves. If you have read Paradise Lost you’ll feel familiar with the nuance in Satan’s portrayal. He is at once contemptuous, envious, and affectionate toward mankind. Only a top level talent like Pacino can actually make a character like Satan feel this multi-dimensional and even sympathetic in a way. Reeves holds his own with his delightful southern accent. The gradual descent into corruption and degeneracy is well-paced and effectively portrayed thanks to some great supporting work from Charlize Theron and Jeffery Jones. What’s also interesting is how the story feels a lot more subversive in the current year than it probably did when it was released. The line that sticks out is Satan shouting that, “the 20th century was entirely mine. All of it!” Think about it for a moment. He isn’t just talking about the rise of Hitler. The Eddie Barzoon speech in particular rings even more true in the social media era than it did in the 90's.
The ending unfortunately undermines a lot of the good work done in the first two thirds of the movie. It drags on and on and then cops out by both having Satan fail and jumping back to the beginning of the story. It could have worked if the film had done one of those things but not both. Pacino’s speech at the end is memorable and delivered with his classic verve. Overall he just carries the movie, and if the concept interests you then the film is very much worth your time. Skippable otherwise.
Grade: B-
