Review of The Devil's Advocate (1997) by Matthew B — 13 Jun 2014

Any film starring Al Pacino warrants a viewing from me, but one that also has a performance from Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron sounds more than entertaining.

Legal thrillers have proved several times to be difficult to please me, but the good thing about The Devil's Advocate is the fact that it combines the thrills of legal proceedins with genuine character drama as well as horror elements. It is a very ambitious film and an innovative combination of genres. At times it can be a little bit overwhelming, but the fact is that The Devil's Advocate is built on a complex concept thanks to a cleverly written script which manages to combine both thrilling elements from The Omen and The Exorcist with the legal thrills of a John Grisham story. Occasionally it can be overwhelming in its ambition and the ending may annoy many viewers. But in my opinion, The Devil's Advocate is actually the one time in movie history that a film has been able to pull of such an ending because it did it so well with such intensity and because viewers have become so involved in the film. Frankly, The Devil's Advocate is a very well written film thanks to the excellent screenplay from Jonathan Lemkin and Tony Gilroy, and under the directional skill of Taylor Hackford it is propelled into levels of success I was not prepared for.

The Devil's Advocate has many characters, but it balances them well while keeping the focus on protagonist Kevin Lomax and touching upon everyone else as a subplot to the development of Kevin Lomax as a person without deviating far away from the central plot. And although it doesn't have as many intense courtroom scenes as you may expect from a legal thriller, it makes up for it with a script full of consistently intelligent dialogue and a lot of complex situations as well as interesting characters. The actors in The Devil's Advocate are given powerful material and just build it up from there which also allows the dramatic situations to develop naturally, and that means that the story evolves into a more deep and complex film with a twisted atmosphere.

Visually, The Devil's Advocate is terrific as well because as well as having a few moments of strong visual effects, The Devil's Advocate also manages to show off a lot of nice scenery to make the film convincing and it does it with excellent cinematography. It is also edited at a pace which is gentle most of the time but intense during the more striking sequences, and it has no reserves about using blood, gore or nudity to impose a powerful visual experience down on the experience of the viewer. The Devil's Advocate is great as a form of storytelling and a powerful visual experience, so although the material is very powerful and possibly overwhelming, it is very easy to watch The Devil's Advocate and even easier for one to find themselves enjoying it immensely.

And the intensity of the musical score made the horror elements of the film all the more thrilling and effective.

But the most memorable element of The Devil's Advocate is the acting because the dedication from the cast is so immensely powerful.

Al Pacino reminded me in The Devil's Advocate why I consider him to be the greatest actor of all time. He has a natural skill for portraying villains which he has done in many landmark films such as The Godfather Part II and Scarface, and in The Devil's Advocate he is put into the role of one of the most evil characters of his career: the relentless reinforcement behind a determined lawyer with a certain fiery twist to him. His line delivery is fearlessly powerful and it just grips the audience with a relentless tenacity and a refusal to let anything in the film take over his powerful strength over the viewers. Al Pacino's easily twisted charisma makes the entire experience in The Devil's Advocate a very complex and dark experience, and he constantly carries the interests of viewers with a twisted sense of mystery that surrounds him and haunts the film, combined with a pure sense of evil. Al Pacino's performance is clearly acting, but it is so deep and involving that the viewer is able to acknowledge that yet get completely sucked into the role with immense power. The Devil's Advocate is unforgettable for many reasons, but none other than the pure strength of Al Pacino's leading performance.

Keanu Reeves is an actor commonly criticised as being too wooden and emotionally monochromatic in films. In The Devil's Advocate however he takes a step away from the natural persona he has developed for himself in many of those films and gives a performance that I was honestly blown away by. The Devil's Advocate could very possibly feature the greatest performance of Keanu Reeves to date. Pulling off an accent without problem, Keanu Reeves delivers his lines with serious emotional dedication and a true involvement in everything that his happening. He transitions between states of mind really well in The Devil's Advocate at a consistent pace from start to finish and gives an emotionally powerful performance which could surprise even the most critical of viewers. Keanu Reeves intergrates both emotional and physical acting into his part so that it is complex and meaningful from many angles, and the fierce intensity in his chemistry with Charlize Theron and especially Al Pacino make him a more than ideal lead actor for The Devil's Advocate. Keanu Reeves was purely amazing in The Devil's Advocate beyond belief, and he deserved a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor for his performance.

Charlize Theron's supporting performance in The Devil's Advocate is also great because of the pure amount of emotional investment she puts into her part. Fearlessly stepping into a deeply troubled character, Charlize Theron gives a performance worthy of the standard of acting in The Devil's Advocate presented by both Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves and does it with pride. Her performance is ambitious, and it shows off just how far she is willing to go as an actress which proves to be a fairly heavy length. Charlize Theron's performance in The Devil's Advocate is just spot on and is one of the best of her career.

So although it can be a little overwhelming at times and presents a lot to take in, The Devil's Advocate is a deeply involving, complex and thrilling film which serves as an innovative blend of horror and legal thriller elements as well as a medium for the incredible acting skills of Al Pacino, Charlize Theron and Keanu Reeves in a potentially career-best performance.