Other Titles • The Devil's Advocate • Im Auftrag des Teufels (1998)
Synopses for The Devil's Advocate (1997)
1.
Promising young lawyer Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves) has never lost a case--even when his client is guilty. When Kevin is seduced away from his sleepy hometown in Florida to work for a flashy, charming lawyer (Al Pacino, in a role he seems born to play), his mother (Judith Ivey) has reservations. But as he works his way up the corporate ladder, Kevin manages to put them aside, along with his wife's (Charlize Theron) needs and the stirrings of his conscience over knowingly defending the guilty. However, his vanity won't let him start losing now. As Kevin's career skyrockets, his neglected wife Mary Ann begins to see evil, violent visions. Hoping a visit from his mother will help, instead Kevin finds himself confronted with a secret his mother has never told him. As Mary Ann seemingly descends into madness, Kevin begins to suspect his boss may be much more than he seems, and he finds himself faced with a choice between saving his own life and saving his soul. Thought-provoking, inventive, and entertaining, director Taylor Hackford's film is reminiscent of psychological horror films like ROSEMARY'S BABY. Andrzej Bartkowiak's lush, innovative cinematography complements the smart script and dead-on acting.
(59 votes)
2.
Too old for Hamlet and too young for Lear--what's an ambitious actor to do? Play the Devil, of course. Jack Nicholson did it in The Witches of Eastwick; Robert De Niro did it in Angel Heart (as Louis Cyphre--get it?). In The Devil's Advocate Al Pacino takes his turn as the great Satan, and clearly relishes his chance to raise hell. He's a New York lawyer, of course, by the name of John Milton, who recruits a hotshot young Florida attorney (Keanu Reeves) to his firm and seduces him with tempting offers of power, sex, and money. Think of the story as a twist on John Grisham's The Firm, with the corporate evil made even more explicit. Reeves is wooden, and therefore doesn't seem to have much of a soul to lose, but he's really just our excuse to meet the devil. Pacino's the main attraction, gleefully showing off his--and the Antichrist's--chops at perpetrating menace and mayhem. The film was directed by Taylor Hackford (Against All Odds, Dolores Claiborne), who provides alternate-track commentary for the movie itself, plus a dozen deleted scenes. Also note: due to a settlement with artist Frederick Hart over the movie's use of a sculpture resembling his Ex Nihilo in Washington's National Cathedral, future releases of the film will be altered. --Jim Emerson
(56 votes)
3.
The newest attorney at the world's most powerful law firm has never lost a case. But he's about to lose his soul.
Kevin Lomax, a ruthless young Florida attorney that never lost a case, is recruited by the most powerful law firm in the world. In spite of his mother's disagreement, which compares New York City to Babylon, he accepts the offer and the money that comes along. But soon, his wife starts feeling homesick as she witnesses devilish apparitions. However, Kevin is sinking in his new cases and pays less and less attention to his wife. His boss and mentor, John Milton, seems to always know how to overcome every problem and that just freaks Kevin right off.
(52 votes)
4.
Heat
(1995; 172 minutes)
When Al Pacino and Robert De Niro square off, Heat sizzles. Written and directed by Michael Mann, Heat includes dazzling set pieces and a bank heist that USA Today's Mike Clark calls “the greatest action scene of recent times.” It also offers “the most impressive collection of actors in one movie this year” (Newsweek). Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore and Ashley Judd are among the memorable supporting players in this tale of a brilliant L.A. cop (Pacino) following the trail from a deadly armed robbery to a crew headed by an equally brilliant master thief (De Niro). Heat goes way beyond the expectations of the cops-and-criminals genre – and into the realm of the movie masterpiece.
Dog Day Afternoon
(1975; 124 minutes)
On a hot Brooklyn afternoon, two optimistic losers set out to rob a bank. Sonny (Al Pacino) is the mastermind, Sal (John Cazale) is the follower, and disaster is the result. Because the cops, crowds, TV cameras and even the pizza man have arrived. The "well-planned" heist is now a circus.
Pacino and director Sidney Lumet, collaborators on Serpico, reteam for this boisterous comedy/thriller that earned six Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture), and won an Oscar for Frank Pierson's streetwise screenplay. Based on a true incident, Dog Day Afternoon “is one of the big ones, swarming with energy, excitement and drama.” --Gene Shalit, NBC-TV
Devil's Advocate
(1997; 144 minutes)
Hotshot attorney Kevin Lomax's 64-0 case record has brought him a tempting offer from an elite New York firm. But the job Lomax accepts isn't what it seems. The Devil is in the details. In this gleeful, modern gothic fable, Keanu Reeves plays eager Lomax and Al Pacino is the charismatic firm founder who knows there are cases to be won...and souls to be lost. From Lomax's court triumphs and skyrocket rises to its double-twist ending, Devil's Advocate is red-hot entertainment. Lomax's life, wife and soul are on the line. He's landed a job that's heaven on Earth... which can lead him straight to Hell.
(45 votes)
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