Review of Devil's Knot (2013) by Patrick L — 18 Oct 2014

"Atom Egoyan's courtroom drama is too flat, can you bring this straightforward true story back to the kitchen please because it's preachy and misguided.".

DVD Movie Review: Devil's Knot.

Date Viewed: June 29 2014.

Directed By Atom Egoyan (Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter).

Screenplay By Paul Harris Boardman and Scott Derrickson, Based on the book by Mara Leveritt.

Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Colin Firth,.

Kevin Durand, Mireille Enos, Dane DeHaan,.

Stephen Moyer, Elias Koteas, Gary Grubbs,.

Bruce Greenwood, Alessandro Nivola, Jonathan Spencer, Amy Ryan, Brian Howe,.

Robert Baker, Collette Wolfe, Matt Letscher,.

Martin Henderson, Rex Linn, Kristoffer Polaha and James Hamrick.

"Devil's Knot" is based on the true story about the murders of three young boys and the three teenagers known as the West Memphis Three who received life sentences for their horrific crimes. Four documentaries were told about this subject, "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills", "Paradise Lost 2: Revelations", "Paradise Lost: Purgatory" and "West of Memphis". This new film from Canadian director Atom Egoyan (Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter) just feels unnecessary.

"Devil's Knot" is not a bad film, it's just that we didn't need this subject to be told again in a feature film. I would see the documentaries instead.

Reese Witherspoon stars as Pamela Hobbs, a working class mother living in West Memphis, Arkansas. She is the mother of an eight-year old boy named Stevie Branch. When Stevie and two other boys Christopher Byers and Michael Moore go missing, the Arkansas police begin an extensive manhunt for the missing boys. Soon, the bodies of the boys are found in a lake, they were beaten and bound. The community and the police believe that the murders were committed by a satanic cult and a private investigator named Ron Lax (Colin Firth) is assigned to the case.

Soon, three teenagers, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. are arrested after Misskelley confesses to the police. Misskelley was interrogated for four hours, the three teenagers are taken to trial and all three say that they are innocent. At the end, Baldwin and Misskelley receive life sentences while Echols is sentenced to death. "Devil's Knot" feels like a movie that should've premiered on HBO because this material has been told multiple times before.

Reese Witherspoon may give a strong performance but she was deceived by the screenplay. Colin Firth is miscast I think as a southern private investigator. However, we do get strong supporting performances from Bruce Greenwood as the judge of the West Memphis Three trial, Mireille Enos who might've played a part in the arrest of the three teens, Amy Ryan as Ron Lax's wife and Rex Linn as the lead West Memphis investigator. Atom Egoyan is a great director but this is a second-rate retelling of the West Memphis Three case. "Devil's Knot" is a docudrama that is both dull and underwhelming.