Viking Night: The Devil's Advocate
By Bruce Hall
April 21, 2015
BoxOfficeProphets.com
No, seriously. I am not on drugs, and I have not been possessed by Satan. The Devil’s Advocate is an often overlooked film that gets attention mostly for Al Pacino’s now legendary act three monologue. But if you take the time to revisit the film (and are willing to endure a lot of mind numbing cliché and painfully obvious plot twists), you will experience a pretty solid (if occasionally uneven) psychological thriller. And it’s one that takes particular glee in reminding us that there’s very little difference between lawyers and megalomaniacal hell-beasts bent on human suffering and world domination.
But you already knew this. What you probably didn’t know is that holy crap, Keanu Reeves can act!
Keanu appears here as Kevin Lomax. He’s a faintly smug, ruthlessly efficient trial lawyer from Podunk, Florida. Kevin is young, handsome, massively confident and of course, has never lost a case. But while he’s known as a shark in the courtroom, he’s deeply attached to his beautiful wife Mary Ann (Charlize Theron). The young couple struggles to make ends meet, but they’re deeply in love and very interested in starting a family - as would we all, if we were married to Charlize Theron. Kevin’s mother (Judith Ivey) is a doting, slightly eccentric spinster who spends most of her time at church. She’s a preacher’s daughter, born and raised on Scripture. She has passed her encyclopedic knowledge of the Good Book on to her son, who as you can probably guess is something of an agnostic.
That’s probably how he’s able to take the cases he does. Kevin routinely defends clients whom he knows are guilty as all hell. Driven to succeed at all costs and fiercely protective of his perfect record, he goes out of his way to spring an especially loathsome child molester, going so far as to browbeat the traumatized young victim on the stand. Kevin knows the man is guilty, and is barely able not to vomit all over himself after the acquittal. But his record is intact, and all it takes is a pint or two of liquor to convince himself that nothing else matters. This is where he is when the prestigious law firm of Milton, Chadwick & Waters pulls up outside the bar with a dump truck full of cash. They appreciate Kevin’s talent for moral diffusion, and are eager to enlist his assistance springing the biggest dirtbags Manhattan has to offer.
At first, Kevin and Mary Ann are swept away by the opulence of their new lifestyle, and enchanted by the Firm’s senior partner, John Milton (Al Pacino). Milton is an urbane, multilingual dynamo of prosperity who seems to have unlimited money and resources. With his favor, combined with Kevin’s talent for stacking juries and obfuscating the truth, the young attorney’s rise to power is as meteoric as it is improbable. Scant weeks after leaving his old life behind, the Lomaxes have moved on up to a de-luxe apartment in the sky. And Kevin has gone from defending backwater rapists to batting for New York's most prestigious millionaire murderers. And, he's practically Milton's right hand man.
Meanwhile, Mary Ann is disintegrating into angst and boredom. She rarely sees her husband, is unable to find work and is therefore relegated to spending her days with the Firm's other Stepford wives. Without the love of family, the trappings of wealth fit her like shackles. She withers away alone that cavernous apartment, starved for attention and drinking herself to sleep every night while her once attentive husband can barely be bothered to notice. Both their home and their relationship have become a tomb, bereft of direction and barren of love.
Eventually even Kevin begins to question his work, and the value of merely winning cases as opposed to actually seeing justice done. As he enters Milton's orbit, the latter reveals himself to be a vain lothario who seems to take quiet delight in the misfortune of others. Now, right in the middle of the biggest opportunity of his life, Kevin doesn't doubt his convictions so much as he acknowledges them for the first time. This new job of his feeds his ego, but devours everything else in his life.
Is it safe to say that the film's big twist really isn't? This isn't The Crying Game. Milton's true motivations aren't exactly made subtle. Just look at his name - which anybody who graduated high school should recognize. Pacino practically winks at the camera every time he says it. There really isn't anything subtle about The Devil's Advocate. Kevin's mom isn't just pious, she's a walking demographic, spitting out Bible quotes like a busted garden sprinkler every time she's on screen. Mary Ann isn't just desperately lonesome; her newly pointless existence has robbed her of her very essence.
Every defense attorney will eventually defend someone they suspect is guilty. But in this world, clients are theatrically vile, as though you might not see the ethical distinction without someone putting it on a marquee for you. And speaking of Christmas, the temptation and danger posed by Milton and everyone around him begins as a drumbeat, but spirals quickly as the story dispenses early with any pretense. It's like a kid who has a secret and can't wait to tell someone. The Devil's Advocate is part legal drama and part supernatural thriller, but the drama is Perry Mason level trite (I remind you sir, you are under OATH!), and the thrills are somewhat undercut by a distinct lack of surprise. Even the film's big reveal (not the one you're thinking of) is less a revelation (har) than a reservation - booked in plain sight, well in advance, and landing right on schedule at the climax of act three.
It’s not the worst thing in the world, knowing what’s coming well in advance. It does relieve the viewer of significant intellectual burden, and allows you to focus more on whether or not the actors are connecting with their roles - and I’m happy to report that by and large, they do. Pacino, of course, is more or less playing the same glib libertine he often does, and for better or worse, the role fits him like a glove. But I’m fairly certain they really did lock Charlize Theron in a drunk tank for 30 days before filming. It’s never made entirely clear why her character descends into full on poo-flinging madness, rather than just quietly sitting on the couch, sobbing and watching Oprah and eating bonbons. Probably because it’s more dramatic. But either way, it’s utterly convincing. And Keanu...my boy...rarely will you see him emote and exhibit range the way he does here. I believed it when he was happy, angry, confused, and resolute. It’s a defining performance for him and I dare say it’s one of the biggest reasons to see this movie.
I really like The Devil’s Advocate. I hadn’t seen it in years, and my recollection of it was colored more by its image in popular culture than it was by my own recollection. It’s a flawed but pretty solid thriller that makes no effort to surprise or deceive you, and I’d be lying if I said it breaks any new ground. But it’s enjoyable anyway. Predictable? Yes. Occasionally trite and obvious? Absolutely. But it’s also never slow, never dull, and it delivers more or less what you find yourself expecting of it. This is an underrated film that has a lot more going for it than you’d think. And if you still think Keanu can’t act, you will believe. I don’t know where he hides it, but it’s all on the table here.
You will believe.