Carrying bricks

Rating: Null/10 (27 May 2000)

* * ½ (2½ out of 5)
The Devil's Advocate
Directed by: Taylor Hackford, 1997

`Guilt is like carrying a f**kin bag of bricks. Put it down.' - Al Pacino, as the devil.

Spiritual and gothic thriller that amidst blinding performances still suffers from familiarity. The apparatus of the script is weak, so the viewer is constantly one step ahead of the main character of Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves), and his dance with the devil.

Charlize Theron is wonderfully headstrong and focused as Lomax's wife, while Connie Nielsen is sexy, sophisticated and breezy as the office vamp. Of course, the agenda in The Devil's Advocate is clearly Al Pacino. By getting him to play the devil, the moviemakers were halfway home already.

Pacino was made for the role and he knows it. He's all over the place. With him, it's always a pleasure. He's cocky, provocative and dangerously seductive. The dialogue is chewable, and Pacino relishes in it, his eyes widening and his cheeky smiles going ear to ear.

The moral reasoning is even reflective and The Devil's Advocate is also at times an entertaining subversive comedy, but this mix of Rosemary's Baby and The Firm sorely lacks any real sense of surprise.