Monday, November 03, 1997

The Devil’s Advocate

100435 / 16 / US / 1997 / Hackford, Taylor / fantasy thriller

Devil’s Advocate, The / Paholaisen asianajaja. PC: Warner Bros.; Monarch; Regency. P: Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson, Arnon Milchan. D: Taylor Hackford. SC: Jonathan Lemkin, Tony Gilroy - based on the novel by Andrew Neiderman. CAST: Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino, Charlize Theron, Connie Nielsen. 144’. Scope. Finnish subtitles by Jari Niittylä. DIST: Warner Bros. Finland. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Monday 3 November 1997. *** Faust modernization starts promisingly with brilliant satire, excellent dialogue, and sharp performances. Towards the end, however, it grows overblown, when one twist after another renders everything previously established meaningless. It is a stupefying waste of talent. The special effects may be state of the art, but I would have left them all on the cutting room floor, pruning the film to a 90 minute masterpiece, trying to get rid of the misogyny in the process.

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