The Devil's Advocate (1997)
Directed by Taylor Hackford
Aspiring Florida defense lawyer Kevin Lomax accepts a job at a New York law firm. With the stakes getting higher every case, Kevin quickly learns that his boss has something far more evil planned.
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Although the film isn't a landmark combination of unique elements (viewers will find themselves reminded of both The Witches of Eastwick and The Firm), it has a lot of energy and the rather long 145-minute running time passes quickly.
In a performance reminiscent of Jack Nicholson's in "The Witches of Eastwick," Pacino is nothing short of enthralling, using to magnanimous effect the loud-mouthed hamminess that has become his post-Oscar trademark.
Lawyer on the rise, isolated wife, forces of evil afoot - if these elements recall "Rosemary's Baby," that's where the comparisons stop.
The premise sounds like a "Rosemary's Baby"-ized version of "The Firm": A young man joins a high-powered law firm and finds out that his boss is not only evil but that he's in fact the devil.
The new film offers much more of the mood and texture of "Angel Heart," the under-rated detective thriller (also from 1987) in which Robert De Niro created a powerfully disturbing Lucifer.
I realize on the surface this sounds like nothing more than "The Firm" meets "The Exorcist."
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Screenwriters Jonathan Lemkin and Tony Gilroy have devised a screenplay of sink-or-swim moments, tense seductions and philosophical confrontations, and director Taylor Hackford ("An Officer and a Gentleman") has orchestrated it beautifully.
"The Devil's Advocate" is not, by any stretch, a return to the form of "An Officer and a Gentleman" for Hackford, but it is nevertheless a solid effort aptly suited to the material.