Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

The Devil’s Advocate Blu-ray Movie Review

"I Win! That's My Job!"

Reviewed by Michael Reuben September 11, 2012

With multiple references to the approaching millennium and imagery of a booming economy, The Devil's Advocate has become a relic of the 1990s—but what a glittering relic it is! Taylor Hackford's gleeful morality tale captured the essence of a moment when anything seemed possible, if only you could just relax, forget your doubts and tell yourself, "I deserve this". It was an illusion, but it was fun while it lasted.

The notion of the devil as an attorney goes back at least to the 1937 short story "The Devil vs. Daniel Webster", but arguably it's as old as the Book of Job. By the late 20th Century, when, as Al Pacino's satanic super-lawyer notes, there were more law students than actual lawyers, the idea was irresistible. Business was booming, firms were expanding, and it was easy to accept Pacino's claim that "the law puts us into everything". Today, with law school enrollment down and firms more venerable than the film's Milton, Chadwick & Waters out of business, the world looks a lot different. But if Milton's firm really existed, it would surely be among the survivors, and so would the clients who paid it handsomely to work its magic.

The distinctiveness of The Devil's Advocate becomes clear when you try to categorize it. It isn't a horror film, although it has its share of creepy elements; it isn't a drama, despite scenes of intense human emotion; and it isn't a comedy, even though certain moments are clearly designed to provoke laughter (there can be no other explanation for Pacino's sudden eruption into song-and-dance during his famous maniacal monologue at the conclusion). If there's a single plot strand that ties it all together, it's whether the young lawyer played by Keanu Reeves will ever step up and do, as he himself puts it, "the right thing". It's not an easy decision. "Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to temptation", warns his Baptist mother, borrowing from the Gospel of Matthew. (As it turns out, she knows all too well whereof she speaks.) The "right" thing usually involves sacrifice, and a host of considerations counsels against it: money, ambition, reputation, professional ethics, even one's loving spouse. Only after much pain and loss does the film's youthful protagonist accept the necessity of doing the right thing, and even then the film leaves it unclear whether the lesson will stick.

Kevin Lomax (Reeves) is a hotshot criminal defense attorney in Gainesville, Florida. He never lost a case as a prosecutor, and he's never lost a case in private practice. The film opens with his latest victory, the exoneration of a grade school teacher, Lloyd Gettys, accused of molesting one of his students (Heather Matarazzo). (Examine Gettys closely, and you'll recognize Chris Bauer, looking nothing at all like his character Andy Bellefleur on True Blood.) Kevin achieves this victory despite his own realization, during the course of the trial, that Gettys is guilty.

As he celebrates with wife Mary Ann (Charlize Theron), Kevin receives an offer from Leamon Heath (Ruben Santiago-Hudson, much missed since his departure from Castle), a junior partner in the New York firm of Milton, Chadwick & Waters. They'll pay him handsomely to come to New York with Mary Ann and help them pick a jury. Despite the misgivings of his devoutly Christian mother, Alice (Judith Ivey), who regards New York City as Babylon, Kevin accepts the offer and performs so admirably that he's offered a permanent job at the firm. "We kill you with kindness", says the firm's charismatic leader, John Milton (Pacino), and sure enough, the offer is too good to resist. The minute Mary Ann sees the enormous Fifth Avenue apartment that comes with the deal, she's hooked (though she'll shortly regret it).

Milton's firm does everything, and their business spans the globe, as demonstrated by the multinational contingent that welcomes Kevin on his first day. The group includes a polylingual enchantress named Christabella Andreoli (Connie Nielsen) to whom Kevin is immediately drawn with every fiber of his being. While Mary Ann remains at home trying to decorate their new abode and feeling more and more like a country rube in the company of Manhattan sophisticates like Leamon Heath's wife, Jackie (Tamara Tunie), Kevin busies himself establishing Milton, Chadwick & Waters' new criminal department, assisted by Pam Garrety (Debra Monk), a veteran from the Brooklyn D.A.'s office.

Their first case involves a voodoo shaman, Moyez (Delroy Lindo), who lives in a filthy Harlem basement where he was arrested for slaughtering goats. He's also worth millions and somehow makes the prosecutor lose his voice while Kevin presents a successful defense. Milton is so impressed that he promotes Kevin ahead of the city's entire defense bar when the firm's long-time real estate client, a Trump-like figure named Alex Cullen (Craig T. Nelson), is arrested for the brutal murders of his wife, his stepson and a maid. Kevin loves the opportunity and the limelight, but before he's done, he'll knowingly present perjured testimony in court—a genuine ethical violation, as opposed to defending a guilty man like Gettys, which at least was consistent with professional standards—and he'll lose Mary Ann. He'll also lock horns with the firm's managing partner, Eddie Barzoon (Jeffrey Jones), who becomes convinced, not without reason, that Kevin is a threat to his job.

There's never any doubt about who Milton is. The pleasure of The Devil's Advocate is watching Kevin's dawning awareness of the game that's being played for his soul. (As it turns out, his mother was right, although she should have told him more than she did.) Viewers often remember the film for Pacino's bravura performance when Milton rages at God in a final confrontation with Kevin in his penthouse, after a surreal stroll through a deserted Manhattan. For me, though, Pacino's finest moments occur earlier in the film, when Milton routinely walks a fine line between eccentric and demonic, so that Kevin can't quite be sure what to make of his new boss. You can see him thinking, maybe this is how a powerful man behaves . . .

Then, before he can ponder it sufficiently, a problem of legal strategy arises or the beautiful Christabella floats by, and Kevin's attention goes elsewhere. And that's how they get you.

The Devil’s Advocate Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

In his commentary, director Hackford praises The Devil's Advocate's cinematographer, Andrzej Bartkowiak, for understanding precisely the rich, dark look that he wanted for the film. Bartkowiak had done courtroom dramas for Sidney Lumet, but Hackford clearly was after something more seductive, so that even the courtroom scenes would have some degree of sensual allure (which is how Kevin experiences them). Aside from one specific issue, which I'll discuss separately below, Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray beautifully reproduces Bartkowiak's work, with excellent detail, deep, rich blacks and an almost tactile sheen on many of the expensive surfaces in the overdecorated New York apartments, offices and high-end stores that are the natural habitats of the successful lawyers and their clients and wives. A fine grain pattern is readily visible and does not appear to have been disturbed by filtering or other manipulation, nor is there any indication of artificial sharpening. Despite the large number of audio options, compression errors were not in evidence, probably because the extras are scant.

The one area where the image quality isn't quite up to these standards is in the large sculpture behind Milton's desk in his penthouse. As has been discussed at some length on the Blu-ray.com forum (and reflected in a somewhat cryptic note on the back of the Blu-ray case), after the film's release, sculptor Frederick Hart and the Washington National Cathedral sued Warner Brothers, claiming that the sculpture was an unauthorized copy of Hart's sculpture "Ex Nihilo", which is on permanent display at the cathedral. As a result of the litigation, Warner was required to remove the sculpture from all shots in which it appears, until the final section of the film when it comes to life, at which point it no longer resembles Hart's work.

The Warner effects department has replaced the sculpture in all prior scenes with an abstract display that resembles white clouds. For its era, the effects work was state of the art, but by today's standards, it's less than ideal. At Blu-ray resolution, there is minor image instability in these portions of the frame whenever the sculpture is in view. The work may have been good enough for DVD, but it isn't good enough for Blu-ray.

Finally, I note that the prior version of The Devil's Advocate containing these court-ordered alterations continued to be designated as R-rated on video, whereas this Blu-ray has been dubbed an "Unrated Director's Cut" with a note on the back: "This unrated version contains material different from the original R-rated version." I was not able to identify any change from the theatrical version (of which 475,000 DVDs were issued before the changes were made) other than the removal of Hart's statue. If anyone else identifies a difference, please let me know, and I will update the review.

The Devil’s Advocate Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The sound mix for The Devil's Advocate, presented here in DTS-HD MA 5.1, demonstrates repeated and inventive use of "subjective" effects to convey the supernatural presence of evil, which may just as easily be in one's head as in the real world. An early example occurs when Kevin Lomax asks for a break in the Florida molestation trial and goes to wash his face in the men's room. An unearthly whoosh slides in from the right rear, where the reporter who will goad Kevin into continuing his defense is currently standing. Eddie Barzoon experiences similar sonic apparitions (to accompany the visual ones) during his fateful run in Central Park, and of course Mary Ann hears many odd things. Listen, as well, for the changes in sound when Kevin first sees Christabella in her office; it's as if her distant voice moves forward into his head.

In addition to these subtler effects, there are the obvious ones, such as Milton's voice circling the surround array when Kevin enters his penthouse near the end of the film. All of this is clearly delineated, along with the often elaborate dialogue, which is mostly centered but occasionally pans left or right. James Newton's Howard's score sounds appropriately foreboding and at times even operatically solemn.

The Devil’s Advocate Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The extras have been ported over from the original 1998 DVD. Omitted are two TV spots, an unusually large number of text screens with information about the production, and four trailers for other Warner films.

• Commentary by Taylor Hackford: Hackford is an engaging speaker, but this isn't one of his better commentaries, insofar as too much of it simply narrates the film. There are occasional insights into the production process, but they are too few. Most of them have found their way into trivia items at IMDb.


• Deleted Scenes (SD; 2.40:1, enhanced; 47:04): Unlike the DVD, where Hackford's commentary on these scenes could not be switched off, the twelve scenes are here presented with the commentary as an option. This represents their first release in a form where they can be watched on their own. Most are extended versions of scenes that exist in the film, but a few, including a court appearance involving Barzoon and Justice Department representative Mitch Weaver (Vyto Ruginis), are true "deleted" scenes. There's also a short additional encounter between Kevin and Christabella in which they are considerably more direct with each other than anything that exists in the film as released.


• Theatrical Trailer (SD; 1.78:1, enhanced; 2:21): Effective and doesn't give away anything crucial.

The Devil’s Advocate Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Regardless of one's personal belief in the literal existence of Satan, Pacino's portrayal in The Devil's Advocate remains a compelling portrait of evil, because Pacino himself is such a charismatic screen presence. His Milton exudes the charm, the mystery, the fascination that have always been the most effective weapons of those urging us to do "the wrong thing". Ten years later, the film's co-screenwriter, Tony Gilroy, would write and direct Michael Clayton, which grew out of research he'd done for The Devil's Advocate and contained a human version of the Milton character in the person of firm leader Marty Bach (played to perfection by the late Sydney Pollack). Like Milton, Bach was willing to collect large amounts of money from questionable clients committing unspeakable sins, and even when it cost him an old and trusted friend, he didn't bat an eye. Evil comes in many forms. Highly recommended.