Playing the The Devil’s Advocate: “To argue against what one really believes.” Fitting that this movie is based on a young hot-shot lawyer who hasn’t lost a case yet. And here he is, getting a big move from the podunks of Florida criminal law to New York City! That’s some good lawyerins!
Mr. Anderson aka Keanu Reeves is not exactly the best dramatic actor. River’s Edge, The first two Bill & Ted movies, Point Break, the awfulness he was in that Dracula movie by Coppola (but to Gary Oldman’s credit, he outweighed the suspectness of both Reeves and Winona Ryder there, which is no small feat), then Speed and Johnny Mnemonic. Fine films, in their own right. But not exactly the best in the acting department. Then this, his last role before The Matrix. That changed him. He was perfect as the NPC coming into his own in that one. And from there, slightly better acting. And honestly, some decent action pieces, especially when also considering the John Wick stuff. And there’s The Gift and A Scanner Darkly, I can say, okay, Keanu is okay. Plus, He seems to be a nice guy in real life, too.
The movie here? Actually pretty decent, with both blatant and subtle fuckeries. The material itself is pretty messed up. But an interesting look at choices and consequences, conscious and free will. Bit of a slow burn in a Rosemary’s Baby kind of way, but it does actually cover a lot of ground efficiently and interestingly over the prolonged runtime. Young wife Charlize Theron and new Boss John Milton (Al Pacino) play some decent enough roles, plus Connie Nielsen as, well, pure hotness. But seriously, it gets pretty evil. It does explain why there are so many lawyers out there, so it is educational too!
