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The Devil's Own

The Devil's Own

List Price: $14.94
Your Price: $13.45
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Shocking, dangerous rubbish
Review: It's a shame that two otherwise respected actors could feature in such a moronic simplification of the issues behind Northern Ireland.

If studios cannot interpret a deeply complex situation without resorting to goodies and baddies then they shouldn't bother. Both sides have committed atrocities and everybody in Ireland and Britain is fed up with it.

My advice is do not watch it, it will do more to reinforce stereotypes rather than attempt to explain the circumstances. This is even more of a shame considering all the good things that President Clinton has attempted to do for the Northern Ireland peace process.

I can almost understand this kind of interpretation being applied to more distant wars and troubles (e.g The Patriot - with Mel Gibson), but the wounds are far too fresh. Over here we can only assume that Hollywood has no respect for any of the people affected by the troubles, when it makes such a mindless piece of work.

Incidently, Northern Ireland is a beautiful part of the world, and 99.9% of the people you will meet there are wonderful regardless of their religion or nationality.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: hahahahahahah
Review: My laughter is due to the quote in the previous guys review "Shows he(Brad Pitt) cant act." what a joke. did you listen to the accent. his accent was closer to chinese than irish. no aspect of this movie was watchable.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not as Bad as Some Would Have You Think
Review: Not a 1 star picture, either. I think Pitt's accent is alright, he sounds a fair bit like my Irish-Canadian buddy's parents and they are straight outta Belfast. Some of the reviewers here sound like they're looking for any cheap opportunity to slam Pitt rather than constructively criticize the film. No, it does not delve into the intricacies of the situation and history over there but it is a mainstream Hollywood production and not a documentary. Does this represent an arrogance on Hollywood's part? I think that's looking a little too deep but I wouldn't completely discount it; however, a movie like this is made pretty much solely to make a buck. A nice DVD extra would have been a mini documentary on the conflict over there but would you as a Hollywood producer want to touch that? There is some slightly lame subplot stuff and some bad details, like Pitt leaving the cash in the house after the robbery attempt, but on the whole you could do a lot worse with your two hours.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Engrosing Movie
Review: OK, so it wasn't the perfect movie,but I found it exciting and affecting. Brad Pitt's accent was fine--As another reviewer said, there are lots of different Irish accents and his was believable. No, it wasn't a Harrison Ford vehicle, not a slam-bam action movie, but it wasn't supposed to be. It didn't present the perfect picture of the Troubles in Northern Ireland either, but that's an almost impossible task given the complexity of that subject. It did send the message that violence is not the answer but it made the character and objectives of the IRA man understandable .The effect it had on me was to underline that there have been very few happy endings in Irish history and to wish that there could be one in the current peace process. At any rate, I found the acting to be good whatever the problems on the set and the story moving.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wonderful, horrible, tragic. It's an Irish story.
Review: Probably the most balanced portrayal of terrorism in Northern Ireland. And before anyone goes all sectarian, don't forget that Nelson Mandela was branded a terrorist by the government of his country right up until they made him President.

Brad Pitt gets his teeth into a real part here, and proves that he really can act. Harrison Ford blends superbly into a supporting role, as he plays the cop who unwittingly gives an active terrorist a home.

I cannot condone acts of terrorism (even if calling them such is largely a matter of perspective) but this film gives you a real sympathy for Pitt's IRA man. You know where he's coming from, why he does what he does. It may be wrong, and killing to achieve a political objective must be morally wrong, but you cannot condemn him for it.

There are no easy answers proposed here, no moral cop outs. It's a hard film, and an uncomfortable one. Pitt's character is neither glorified for being IRA nor comdemned for it. As he says as the! end of the film, it's an Irish story. It may not have a happy ending, but at least the killing in the film eventually comes to an end.

And who knows, maybe Gerry Adams will be President one day. Stranger things have happened. END

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Take it from one who knows......
Review: Right....I come from Northern Ireland, and I'll tell you right now most people writing reviews here (apart from a couple, you know who you are) don't have a clue what they're talking about.

This isn't a great movie but it definitly isn't a bad one either, its flawed but worth watching.
And you aren't going to understand "The Troubles" by watching a movie, you need to do some serious reading, its complex.

And....Brad Pitts accent is fine, probably the best I've heard from an American actor in a mainstream movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: FORD AND PITT!?!?!
Review: Saw it a week ago and must say it is good, but not great, but i give it 5 stars since i am a die hard fan of both actors. Watch Troy and StarWars if you want better movies from these actors.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Running With The Devil
Review: The Devil's Own generated a fair amount of advance buzz, in 1997, thanks to the on screen teaming of superstars Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt, and acclaimed director Alan J. Pakula. In the end though, the film, was not much more than a letdown overall.

Frankie McGuire (Pitt) is one of the IRA's deadliest assassins, who, after escaping from British authorities, is sent to the U.S. to buy weapons for his IRA compatriots. Frankie finds himself living with the family of Tom O'Meara (Ford), a New York cop who knows nothing about Frankie's real identity. At first, Tom and his wife Shelia (Margaret Colin), welcome him with open arms, as their surprising friendship grows. Soon though, Tom's growing suspicions force Frankie to choose between the promise of peace or a lifetime of murder,

What promises to be a real potboiler, is muted, for several reasons. The biggest problem for me is the fact that, it's pretty hard to imagine that a veteran cop, would allow a total stranger into his home the way O'Meara did. Even if you put that big gaffe aside though, Pitt and Ford are not as sharp as they have been before. There's no real spark as the two play their scenes together. Ford could have probably done this stuff in his sleep. Pretty boy Pitt has perhaps the worst Irish dialect heard in any film--kind of mirroring Tom Cruise in Far and Away. Pakula does his best working with very little but...lets face it Pitt and Ford are the reason we are watching and they are both off the mark here.

The DVD doesn't have any extras, save for the typical theatrical trailer, of course. Given the rumored behind the scenes turmoil, on this movie, I'm not surprised at the lack of any other bonus material though. Viewers can choose to watch the movie in either the full-screen or widescreen formats.

What a disappointment. With Pakula calling the shots and his track record--I expected a better effort

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A waste of time!
Review: The Devil's Own is not a good movie. Harrison Ford had the worst acting in this movie. When I first heard about it my friend told me about this movie and I saw the theatrical release to it and it looked awesome. Right after I saw it in the theater I thought it was the slowest movie ever made. If some of ya'll never seen it don't even bother renting it or buying it you will not like it at all it's the worst movie I have ever seen.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not As Bad As You've Been Told
Review: THE DEVIL'S OWN was as doomed as doomed can be right from the start when you think about it - Ford's unhappiness with his largely supportive role that led to supposedly harmful script changes, Pitt's unhappiness with the entire project and his constant threats to quit, Ford's belief that Pitt was being unprofessional about the whole matter and their subsequent, semi-legendary clashes. By the time the movie was finally finished, most critics and movie-goers, having spent months reading about the problems with the movie and how everyone involved with the movie was unhappy with it, already decided the movie must not be that good.

Is it good? It's okay. It's certainly not as horrible as you may have been led to believe, although there is a great deal that's wrong with it. Start with Pitt and Ford, who each turn in fairly lazy performances with the fairly stereotypical characters they're handed (Pitt, the war-torn IRA assassin, and Ford, the all-American family man and good guy cop... yawn). The folks who complain about the portrayal of the Irish and the IRA have a decent point, but you do have to realize this is a Hollywood movie, not a documentary. THE DEVIL'S OWN is more believable, more realistic, and more sensitive than other contemporary "terrorist" movies, like, say, THE SIEGE. Of course, there's Pitt's wildly unbelievable accent, which is more than horrible - it's actually distracting. The dialogue is pretty great, but that doesn't matter when all you can think about is how horrible he sounds. It's bad. Finally, there's the flat, anti-climatic ending, which leaves you with the feeling that the scriptwriter grew tired of the whole thing and just... stopped. The dialogue in the final scene is especially inane and disappointing. How they managed to make such a potentially emotional scene so dull and flat is just beyond me. They just could have done so much more with it.

Really, they could have done so much more with the entire movie. In my opinion, this movie was doomed when they tried to force two big name stars into extremely uncomfortable roles. In Ford's case, it's a supportive role that he subsequently underplayed. In Pitt's case, well... I'm sorry, it's the accent. The movie really needed a more convincing actor for Pitt's role and a more durable, blue collar guy for Ford's part. That, and a more fulfilling ending. Still, the dialogue is fantastic at times and the story moves along at a pretty good clip, so THE DEVIL'S OWN is entertaining enough - enough to leave you wondering how good the movie COULD have been. THREE AND A HALF STARS.


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