The Devil's Advocate Review
by "Max Scheinin" (solo AT cruzio DOT com)December 18th, 1997
The idea at the center of The Devil's Advocate, which is, thus far, one of the three or four best films of 1997, is that no matter what decision is made, evil will triumph -- God is a trickster, Satan is a humanist -- "The LAST humanist". He appears in many guises, and seduces many men and women -- in his own words, "Vanity -- by far my favorite sin". Al Pacino plays this role with relish, and gets to chew some delectable lines ("Lemme givya a piece o' inside wisdom on God...","I have a million names..."), as John Milton -- the devil. The main idea -- that he can appear as anyone, in any form (in this case, a buisness man), harkens mainly back to Terry Gilliam's The Time Bandits. But the film, is something else, something original. Part of what makes it so very good, is that it never takes itself too seriously -- it dabbles with morality, vanity, death, and child abuse, but doesn't try to become any profound study of power. This is a marvelous confection -- cocky, funny, thought provoking. It is also entertaining. There is no way you could possibly predict the ending -- it pulls back upon itself, drawing purely out of the mind's eye. The final shot is more creative, more daring, more challenging, then anything in cinema since the white sock in the Coen's Fargo. The central themes are fascinating (sometimes reminiscent of James' The Turn Of The Screw, and Oates' Accursed Inhabitants of The House of Bly), and the product that is built around it really wows. Its nice to know that things like this are still being made.
Grade: A
- Max Solovitch Scheinin
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"We all go a little mad sometimes."
- Anthony Perkins @ the Bates motel.
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