Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/4)
The film’s first hour is a masterclass in atmospheric corruption. Hackford shoots New York as a glittering abyss. The supporting cast—Jeffrey Jones, Judith Ivey, and a young Connie Nielsen—populate the firm with a choir of hushed, predatory smiles. And Pacino, in full “I’m here to chew scenery and damn souls” mode, is genuinely unnerving before he becomes a parody of himself. The Devil-s Advocate
The premise is delicious. Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves), a small-time Florida defense attorney with a perfect record, is recruited by the enigmatic John Milton (Pacino) to a white-shoe New York firm. The firm is a cathedral of marble, ego, and billable hours. Kevin wins cases not through evidence, but through charisma and the manipulation of reasonable doubt—a skill Milton adores. Soon, Kevin is defending a real estate mogul (a wonderfully reptilian Craig T. Nelson) accused of a brutal murder. The catch? Kevin’s wife, Mary Ann (Charlize Theron, heartbreaking), is losing her mind, tormented by visions of demonic violation. Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/4) The film’s first hour is
And then the film adds a final, infuriating wink: Pacino appears on a reporter’s television, revealing that he is still manipulating events. The implication? Evil is eternal. It is clever. It is also a coward’s way out. After two and a half hours of theological thunder, the movie retreats into a “just kidding” loop. It wants to have its damnation and eat it, too. And Pacino, in full “I’m here to chew
Just do not expect a clean verdict. In this court, everyone is guilty. And the judge is having way too much fun.
Then comes the ending. If you have not seen it, spoilers follow—but honestly, the film spoils itself. After a climax involving demonic rape, a rooftop confession (“I’m the lawyer who fucking invented guilty!”), and a CGI transformation that has aged like cheap milk, Kevin shoots himself in the head. He wakes up. It was all a vision. He is back in Florida, at the original trial. He refuses the bribe this time. He wins the moral victory.
The Devil’s Advocate is a movie of immense, almost arrogant potential. It wants to be Wall Street meets The Exorcist , a legal thriller soaked in supernatural dread and moral philosophy. It succeeds as a guilty pleasure. It fails as the masterpiece it so clearly aches to be.