Review of The Devil's Own (1997) by William R — 13 Apr 2014

An uneven pace and storytelling compromise a promising cast and premise. It starts by building two well-established characters in unrelated parallel stories. One is a terrorist fighting the Irish government; the other is a New York cop with a strong belief in following the rules.

Both characters are interesting and when the Irishman comes to America to buy weapons, things seem to take a fascinating turn when he gets housing from the police officer. Regretfully the good execution ends.

Somehow, these two men form a close family-like bond. The problem is there is little explanation or development to make those genuine connections. When the action attempts to pick up, the emotional and moral conflict of the two main characters should be intense, but they are not.

It loses momentum and slows down, in spite of the action picking up. It is frustrating how brutally uneven it is. To make matters worse ending is sad and unsatisfying. Harrison Ford is a very good fit for his role.

Brad Pitt is not as ideal; He comes across as an American trying to act Irish. Still he has presence and holds greater potential than where this movie has. Alan Pakula is a normally a better director than this.

I would expect him to tell the story with more feeling, precision, and clarity.