the idea at the center of the devil’s advocate , which is , thus far , one of the three or four best films of 1997 , is that no matter what decision is made , evil will triumph — god is a trickster , satan is a humanist — ” the last humanist ” .
he appears in many guises , and seduces many men and women — in his own words , ” vanity — by far my favorite sin ” .
al pacino plays this role with relish , and gets to chew some delectable lines ( ” lemme givya a piece o’ inside wisdom on god . . . ” , ” i have a million names . . . ” ) , as john milton — the devil .
the main idea — that he can appear as anyone , in any form ( in this case , a buisness man ) , harkens mainly back to terry gilliam’s the time bandits .
but the film , is something else , something original .
part of what makes it so very good , is that it never takes itself too seriously — it dabbles with morality , vanity , death , and child abuse , but doesn’t try to become any profound study of power .
this is a marvelous confection — cocky , funny , thought provoking .
it is also entertaining .
there is no way you could possibly predict the ending — it pulls back upon itself , drawing purely out of the mind’s eye .
the final shot is more creative , more daring , more challenging , then anything in cinema since the white sock in the coen’s fargo .
the central themes are fascinating ( sometimes reminiscent of james’ the turn of the screw , and oates’ accursed inhabitants of the house of bly ) , and the product that is built around it really wows .
its nice to know that things like this are still being made .