A devilishly enjoyable thriller

Rating: Null/10 (4 March 2002)

After seeing Al Pacino in this movie, I truly understood the meaning of screen presence. He towers above any of his screen partners in this modern fable of the oldest evil.
Keanu Reeves is a small town attorney driven by his own vanity and ambition, and his social climbing wife (Charlize Theron playing what I think was a fairly unsympathetic character) to accept a position with a high-powered New York law firm. Pacino is the senior partner. Oh, by the way, he's also the devil. He becomes Reeves' mentor, for reasons which become clear at the end of the film.
This is a magnificently mounted and photographed film marred only by Reeves' wooden performance (I think he's a cool actor, but I didn't think the role suited him) and the Theron as the really irritating wife. But then, thank God (?) there's Al. Besides, any film that ends with the Stones' Paint it black can't be all bad. 3 out 4 with Al raising it from a 2.