Rating: 
Summary: Great movie, great philosophy
Review: The whole cast in this movie did a great job. This movie uses a lot of symbols, so you can't really take what you see literally. I can say that this is one of the many movies that I will watch over and over again. The ending really pleases me...some people don't realize that Kevin makes the same mistake over again at the end.
Rating: 
Summary: 4.5-Star Film; Maybe A Bit Too Long, But Still...
Review: This is a very well-made film. Director Taylor Hackford did a great job by keeping the film styish and sleek all the while injecting a faint sense of dread into each of the early scenes that grows and grows until it completely breaks loose by the film's climax. I'm not going to expound on this film any more, because the eloquent reviewer from Woodstock, GA already did an excellent job of that. However, I do want to point out that this film plays even better in my DVD player than it did when I watched it in the theater. I don't know why, but I guess the sharper DVD image works for it better. Plus, the commentary by Taylor Hackford is extremely insightful. The film itself may go on a bit too long, and the climax still has me shaking my head a bit, but this film is undeniably provocative, giving us a better-than-average Keanu Reeves performance, who obviously has no trouble with a Southern accent (ditto for his British accent in BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA, another stylish and excellent film). It also contains a performance by Al Pacino that is his best in years, and one that he clearly had a lot of fun in doing! But the performance that stands out the most for me is by relative newcomer Charlize Theron (originally from South Africa) as Reeves' suffering young wife. Her performance is psychologically complex, sympathetic, and harrowing: she draws you into her character's heart so well that you can't look away. Her performance should have earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress; it's too bad that the Academy didn't agree. Despite the way the plot of THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE may read to some viewers, it is not a horror film, per se. It is a very-well-realized, fantastical vision of the good and evil that underpins our money-driven, materialistic society. It contains some rather disturbing scenes, but what is truly disturbing is how real it all seems. For one, I am glad I own it on DVD, and if you are a fan of supernatural and suspensful films, you should own it, too!
Rating:
Summary: What a fun movie!
Review: Oh, let's get simple here. This is a really fun, entertaining movie with just the right mix of wit, and polish, bravado, spectacle, and surprise. Pacino, being one of the 5 real actors in Hollywood, delivers a spectacular performance. Reeves, with a part perfectly tailored to who he is, also provides a great performance. I'm glad we own it because we'll be enjoying it over and over again. A real grinner.
Rating: 
Summary: Deleted scenes WITHOUT director's commentary please!!!
Review: I have been a fan of this film since I first saw it back in 97'. I was thrilled by the deleted scenes with director's commentary on the DVD. However, I was severely annoyed with and dissapointed by the fact that there is no option to view the deleted scenes without the director's commentary. Viewing the scenes and listening to the director's vision was both exciting and interesting. But in this fan's humble opinion, they left out one very important ingredient. Specifically, the option to experience the director's vision in its natural state without his commentary. If anyone out there knows a way to turn off the commentary and increase the volume of the actual deleted scenes I'd love to know it. Furthermore....if there ARE versions out there of the deleted scenes without commentary I'd love to own one!
Rating:
Summary: Troublesome Thriller
Review: This is a brilliant movie. While most people point out that it decries the negative aspects of greed, they miss the fact that the plot is really about work ethic. Kianu's wooden performance as a small-town lawyer shows us a man who works hard but who's career hasn't taken off. A chance meeting with a recruiter takes him to New York City, where he strikes the fancy of the senior partner in a giant law firm. He loses himself in the overwhelming opportunities that await him. His wife initially relishes in the fruits of his labor--a beautiful apartment, nice clothing, a busy social life--but soon starts regretting the loss of time she could spend with her husband and the lack of intimacy in her relationship. She retreats into herself and wallows; she doesn't try to find any new outlets, and all of her problems smoulder within her. Charlize Theron, who plays that wife, is quite attractive. Her performance, mostly half the movie as a woman slipping into terror, dispair, and and dimentia, is very good. But Al Pacino, who plays the evil senior partner, steals the show. Each of his great movies features at least one long monologue of incredible power and control. This movie features three or four; he is a brilliant orator and an excellent actor. Because Kianu's character has little dynamic range, Kianu's weak acting doesn't sabotage the film. The movie's inside out ending will leave many wanting. But I found it interesting and throughful. Funny thing is, I didn't find this movie enjoyable. The plot line and the subject are troubling to me and that has me watching the movie with some amount of stress. It combines elements of drama and horror in very balanced portions. But as an experience, I found it quite disturbing--and I'm not normally that sensitive to such things. It's very entertaining, but it certainly isn't an escapist film. The audio quality is below average for a DVD; the dialogue is moderated well, but the sound effects and ambient sounds are almost completely lost. The video quality is average. There's lots of poorly managed editing, and some terribly executed lighting, which the DVD production doesn't use to convey any ambience or tone. It just comes off as a mistake. I felt the production quality was so bad that I almost took away a star.
Rating:
Summary: The Devil's Advocate
Review: This has to be the best performance by Reeves prior to The Matrix. Why he did not receive an Oscar nomination for his performance in this movie is beyond comprehension! As always Al
Pacino is superb. Excellent script and acting. It sent chills down my spine. Worth renting or owning.
Rating:
Summary: Vanity...definitely his favorite sin.
Review: That's how Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves)in a suitably cold as ice portrayal of a young ambititious lawyer, gets more than he plea bargained for. ..............In the MANY times I've watched this movie, I was totally riveted. Al Pacino does it again with another stellar performance as the modern day Lucifer of the Legal World, ironically named John Milton ("Paradise Lost" author). His eerie chuckle while interviewing Kevin Lomax for a chance to legally bite the Big Apple, let's you know something is amiss. Of course, if you've seen the Exorcist, or know some folklore, the moment you realize that John Milton can fluently speak any language he needs at the moment, tips you off to who the "Devil" Mr. Milton actually is...(the devil supposedly speaks all languages). .............I enjoyed Milton's phone conversations in Russian, a language I have a good working knowledge of. I also dug his sexually provocative Italian converstion with Connie Neilsen aka "Kristabella" whom John Milton has set up Kevin to lust after the moment he sees her. The part where Milton speaks mandarin to a street vendor in China Town...PLEASE! How many non-Asian people besides Mira Sorvino can master that tongue and not be suspect? .................One of the best scenes for Milton's amazing language ability is when he's going to a championship boxing match on the train with Kevin and two latino wanna-be toughs are nearby. Milton can't help but stare one down, so one guy gets ready to "get down in the trenches", as Milton would put it, but the pulled knife freezes when Milton tells the guy that the minute he left his apartment, his wife went upstairs to his Buddy Carlos' house to split a "Jumbo" of crack, and get it on upon their green bedspread "especial." The whole thing sounded so melifluous said in Spanish, and so funny when you're reading the subtitles as he speaks! ..................Meanwhile, Kevins wife MaryAnne, played brilliantly by Charlize Theron, gave up her questionably successful real estate career to faithfully stand by Kevin. The price she pays for her unswerving loyalty, sanity AND vanity. She loses confidence in herself completely, letting Milton choose her hair style and color, and her snobby neighbor (Tamara Tunie, "Eve's Bayou") choose house paint color. She feels out of her league and inadequate "swimming with the sharks" as Milton puts it. .................Especially surrealistic and nightmarish are the hallucinations that MaryAnne begins to have. We aren't told, but I assume Milton is entering her mind and playing evil tricks. There's a ghastly one where MaryAnne imagines a baby is playing with her reproductive organs. Subsequently, she finds out days later she's barren, also courtesy of Milton's magic I suppose. Then Kevin sees Kristabella before him in MaryAnnes place while making love. These images that Milton creates are very real and powerful. The image that really made me jump in my chair was when MaryAnne goes dress shopping with her neighbor and Eddie Barzou's (Firm Partner)wife. See for yourself if you flinch when you view the film............... Milton keeps this up through several more interesting turns, and finally he drives MaryAnne right where he planned to from the beginning. Milton then gets Kevin right where he wants him, until the "free will" he tells Kevin is his perogative, interferes with the outcome of Milton's ultimate plan.................. Here's a film where the beginning, straight to a long amazing ending, (which leaves room for a part two)...will run you through a gamut of emotion, and leave you totally satisfied, yet wanting more, hence the ironic closing image that lets us know, some folks never learn.
Rating: 
Summary: Very weak movie...
Review: The basic theme of this movie is interesting - it focuses on one man's vanity. A lawyer in Gainesville, FL, Kevin Lomax has not lost a case. At the beginnig of the film he is defending a math teacher who presumably sexually assaulted one of his students. Kevin begins this case with a clear conscience, but discoveres the teacher is guilty at a crucial point in the trial - during the testimony of the girl herself. Kevin decides to defend the teacher nevertheless, and unmercifully attacks the young girl on the witness stand. He manages to create a reasonable doubt, based on several lies the girl told. Following this case, he is invited to help a big firm in NYC choose a jury, and gloriously wins once again - against all odds. He is then invited to join this firm. At first, this looks like a dream job. He gets an amazing salary, an amazingly large and beautiful new apartment... Kevin has all he needs to fit in, since he is being judged by his talent. But his wife, Mary Anne, finds herself over her head. Even though in her Gainesville life she is a confident woman, NYC proves too sophisticated for her - her tastes, her clothes, her hair - falls short of what her new friends have. Mary Anne starts falling apart, while Kevin finds himself busy with his work and attracted to a female co worker. Slowly they drift apart from each other, until the dramatic finale... Even though the ending is a little too much for me to accept, but the beginning could have made a pretty good film. But Keanu Reeves' even - more - wooden - than - the - usual acting, and the fact that Mary Anne's deterioration is seen in leaps and bounds instead of a gradual process ruin even that. This DVD has a lot of other material, including commentaries, deleted scenes and a thorough explanation of who and what is the devil... This helped me raise the rating to 3 stars.
Rating:
Summary: \/\/ ( ) \/\/
Review: When I first saw parts of this movie I was like got to see it; got to see it!! So when I finally did my hope were very, very high; and I wasn't disappointed!! I love this film!! It had twists enough to throw my over board almost every time!! The acting was stunning, completely stunning!! And for special effects hams, it had those too! I basically just loved the whole dark feel and intrigue of the film!! My only real problem with it was the nudity, but I don't really mind using my skip track button. So it still gets a big five stars!!
Rating:
Summary: Connie Nielsen AND Charlize Theron...
Review: ...so you cannot go wrong and neither does Taylor
Hackford in this very entertaining movie. Pacino chews the carpet in his best Pacino-esque style.
Reeves is his usual block of wood.
Charlize Theron gets to show some serious acting skills.
Connie Nielsen is drop dead gorgeous. Why isn't Ms Nielsen in more movies? I can only remember
her as the Commodus' sister in "Gladiator" where she was
again outstanding. I think I could only believe Ms Nielsen in this part - that
requires the viewer to accept that someone married to Charlize
Theron could be swayed by the tempting charms of another woman.
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