Pacino Raises Hell
Veteran Actor Stirs Fear in Advocate

I'm having trouble categorizing the film I saw this week. Devil's Advocate is nothing like most legal thrillers of the John Grisham variety. It's not a horror movie, in the hack-and-slash variety popularized in the '80s. This is a horror movie, but it's a thinking person's horror movie. Don't let the fact that it stars Al Pacino fool you, though. This is a scary film, and at times it shocks and even sickens.

I can't remember the last time that I saw a movie I enjoyed this much but had trouble recommending. My problem is this, the people who would most enjoy Pacino's performance may be turned off by the sex and gore in the film. Those who enjoy sex and gore would not appreciate the deeper meaning of the story. In short, this film is too good for most people. There. I said it. Now let me explain.

Be warned. If you don't like spoilers, don't read the rest of this review. In order to talk about this movie, I need to blow a major plot point which you may or may not have gathered from the advertisements.

Devil's Advocate begins in Florida where a young trial lawyer named Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves) is arguing a case in which his client has been accused of molesting a 13 year-old girl. Lomax knows he's guilty, but manages to get the man off -- keeping his perfect record in tact. His strong ability to pick a sympathetic jury gets him noticed by a big law firm in New York, and soon he and his wife Mary Ann (Charlize Theron) are packing up for the big city. His mother (Judith Ivey), a God-fearing Bible-thumper, warns him not to go to "Babylon" because of the evil there. He smiles politely, ignores the advice, and leaves.

Once in New York, Lomax quickly falls under the spell of the firm. John Milton (Pacino), the head of the firm, offers him a permanent position after he proves himself in a nasty Savings & Loan case. Soon his wife is redecorating their gothic apartment and he is spending all of his time at the firm. Of course, anyone who has read a John Grisham novel knows that big law firms are dens of iniquity. It is no surprise when Lomax begins to ignore Mary Ann when he takes on a triple murder case. Soon her spiral into madness is punctuated by visions of evil. Lomax -- more concerned with freeing his client (played by Craig T. Nelson of television's "Coach") -- doesn't understand the nature of her madness. Her inability to have children, her visions of demonic creatures, are all caused by Milton -- who is, if you haven't guessed by now, the devil.

While much of Devil's Advocate is merely window dressing, it tells a compelling tale of greed, corruption, and ultimate evil. (Of course it does! It's about lawyers, right?) Don't think for a minute that Lomax is the victim of the story. His greed and vanity are evident from the beginning when he helps a guilty man go free. He is not someone any decent person would care to socialize with. Why do we watch, then? Why do we care? Because deep down inside we are hoping for redemption.

There are moments of cinematic brilliance in this movie. Some of the special effects demand attention, they are so well conceived. In particular is a bas relief sculpture on Milton's office wall which springs to life at the end of the picture. The eerie quality of the living sculpture brings an otherworldliness to the scene, reminding us this is not just another madman talking.

Some of the twists the movie takes are too coincidental. The deaths, the revelations, and the ultimate relationship between Milton and Lomax are the stuff from which bad horror movies are made. The finishing touch, though, is an inspired dialog by Pacino in which the devil rants and raves about his work in the 20th century. "This is my time now!" he screams, and sitting in the audience we don't doubt for a moment that he is right.

MY RATING: 7 out of 10.

RATED: R
RUN TIME: 130 min.