'The Devil’s Advocate' (1997) Movie Review

The Devil’s Advocate is a horror movie directed by Taylor Hackford starring Al Pacino, Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron.

About the Movie

The Devil’s Advocate has Al Pacino at his best and if we want to see him in his Italian acting that is so personal, this is the movie to watch: he dances Flamenco style and whatever they throw at him and invoques the rage of God. Keanu Reeves is… passably good but don´t forget this actor has worked with Coppola and Scorsese so he must be pretty special… and Charlize Theron who is great in the role of the wife of lawyer Kevin Lomax.

Storyline (let´s hope this is not a Spoiler Alert): our star is a unscrupulos lawyer that doesn´t hesitate in defending supposed (more than guilty) pedophiles to pocket some good cash. With these high morals, there is only one place reserved for him: New York. There he meets John Milton (in case nobody knows, this is the autor of Paradise Lost, I am almost embarrassed to say), a rich (very rich) lawyer that has a lawyer´s office in Manhattan (where else). Dazzled by all of this, Lomax starts working on the worst cases while his wife starts being suspicious of everything (because she wants to have a baby, of course). Things follow their course until at the end we see Al Pacino in his role of… you can guess.

Our Opinion

This is a good movie that hooks you and has a good rhythm, especially if you are of an age in which films of today don´t have much to tell you. I didn´t recall this movie so well until I saw it again yesterday. A good rhythm and decent story (today it would win several Oscars), excellent photography, good acting… a good movie: The Devil’s Advocate.

Recommended.

Director

Taylor Edwin Hackford (born December 31, 1944 in Santa Barbara, CA) is an American film director and producer. He is best known for his work on films such as “An Officer and a Gentleman” (1982), “The Devil’s Advocate” (1997) and “Proof of Life” (2000), and for directing Jamie Foxx to an Academy Award for Best Actor in “Ray” (2004). Hackford served as president of the Directors Guild of America from 2009 to 2013.