The Devil's Advocate takes its time burning out.

Rating: 5/10 (3 June 2011)

Not that he needed to but Taylor Hackford more than confirms he is no Roman Polanski in this slick modern day Gothic horror that in the course of its healthy running time (144 minutes) becomes one to endure. Poorly paced, over and under acted this slick looking bore grows more incredulous with each reel as the characters lose steam with Hackford desperately tries to inject some shock value ( a demented Charlize Theron going topless in a church being one of his grander flourishes) into this supernatural snorer.
Florida counselor Kevin Lomax has all the tools to make him a superb defense lawyer. When he gets the call to go to work for a firm in the majors he jumps at it. Moving to the Big Apple he joins the firm of John Milton (Al Pacino) whose piercing intensity Lomax finds both motivating and intimidating. He begins to prove himself fast and is given some big assignments over senior staff. Career wise things are going great but at home wife Mary Ann (Theron) is starting to deconstruct and there is strong suspicion Milton has something to do with it.
With the wooden Reaves in the lead Advocate is sore in need of one as he feigns confusion at the most obvious of ploys put forth by the evil Milton. For a guy that's supposed to be a sharp lawyer he spends an awful amount of the films running time oblivious to Hackford's heavy handed red flags. Pacino's sartorially attired Beelzebub is all wide eyed sadist and smugness with runway models replacing Gog and Magog as companions. Oozing unctuous charm and calm he toys with Lomax longer than a cat with a chipmunk and it's just about as entertaining. Theron fairs the best among the leads by tamping down her share of the hysteria but by the time Devil's Advocate arrives at its climax it has already gone to hell.