DEVIL'S ADVOCATE |
| I could not have made a worse choice for the first film to be reviewed for the
Lizard’s Lair. This is not because it’s an absolutely awful film, nor is it a
must-see film. It’s because it’s such an out and out weird film that I am having
difficulty making my mind up (an unusual experience when it comes to films, I assure
you). So, the hell with it. Let’s just throw a few things in the air and see
what lands where. One of the big surprises in the film is that Keanu Reeves acts. That’s right, he acts. He still has a tendency to overdo the deep gruff manly voice in places but otherwise he handles a different accent surprisingly well, his character is forceful and at least once or twice in the film he gets emotional to good effect. Al Pacino is Al Pacino but more so and there’s nothing wrong with that. His part is one that can only really work if he hams it up and this he does, in spades. I couldn’t help noticing, by the way, that Pacino’s teeth were very discoloured and Reeves’ had permanent five o’clock shadow and I am still not sure if these were statements about the characters or just that I hadn’t noticed before. Anyhow, the supporting cast are all excellent and well cast and Charlize Theron, who plays Reeves’ wife, is particularly good. She is required to run through every emotion from joy to despair and handles it all equally impressively and still manages to look stunning. I want to say that she is beautiful but that isn’t quite the right description. She is very attractive but she has a different kind of face and one that the camera likes. I predict we will be seeing much more of her. Actually we see lots of her anyway in this film as well as several fairly gratuitous female nude scenes and Keanu’s bum. At least I don’t think it was a stunt bum. None of this is vital to the plot but you might want to know anyway. I think everyone knows that Pacino is the Devil and Keanu discovers this only after every other inhabitant of planet earth but the conceit works quite well for most of the film. The courtroom scenes, of which there are plenty, are well done although they have an annoying habit of resolving themselves whilst leaving out all the key arguments. The relationships between Keanu and Charlize and between Keanu and Pacino are all played well, more so as things start to fall apart between them. I had heard that at two and a half hours the film was too long but I remained interested in the characters and plotline throughout. If anything I could have stood another 30 minutes to properly explain how Craig T Nelson got away with murder. And then there is the ending. Or should I say endings? Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Well I should say that the CGI effects are pretty damn good, Pacino goes over the top effectively and the main showdown is, well, very watchable. But then we have a mini-series of endings or possible endings that meander on for several unnecessary minutes. The final final scene probably struck someone as a good joke but was actually a crap way of ending the film. The opportunity to end the film on a much more ambiguous note was to hand and the director should have taken it. As it was, I got the impression that the film must have been tested by three or four different audiences who all wanted a different ending and they all got their way. Pity. The bottom line is that I would recommend the film though be prepared for a strange
experience. The good bits outweigh the bad bits and if you enjoy seeing actors do their
stuff then you’ll like this film. My only advice is that as soon as you get to a
scene that strikes you as a suitable ending leave the cinema. |