Big Screen Blurb: Devil



It really depends on the objective. If Devil was supposed to do for riding in elevators what Jaws did for swimming in the ocean, well, objective not met. But then again, what do I know...I spent 30-minutes stuck on an escalator. (JUST KIDDING...it was only ten and the nice 9-1-1 operator talked me down very nicely...okay I WAS kidding) But seriously, Devil, from M. Night Shyamalan is not a bad flick. There is a decent mixture of suspense, plot and intensity that make it worth seeing--big or little screen is up to you.

Philadelphia is the scene. Apparently, the City of Brotherly Love has hit the sights of the evil fallen angel. (Irony duly noted--Shyamalan seems to love that kind of play, doesn't he?) At any rate, the Devil has set up shop in downtown Philly...in an elevator, no less. Enter five seemingly hapless patrons to a downtown building (333 'X' Street, no less--more irony, me thinks). Only these patrons aren't exactly hapless. They are sinners. Yeah, let me narrow that down a bit. Their failures have seemingly moved beyond the "saying 'Damn' to your momma...patting the ass of your girlfriend's best friend...or wearing white after Labor Day" variety of sins. Their shortcomings are a little more noteworthy in mankind's conventional sense. Dana Carvey's favorite line enters stage right...who could it be? "S-a-a-atan!" He's set-up shop in order collect the souls of those devilish patrons and bring along anyone that gets in his way. Yadayadayada...our oblivious elevator riders are picked off one by one and Philly's finest are on the scene trying to figure out how these peeps are dropping, all while trying to get the shrinking list of survivors out of the steel trap.

I'll go with 3.0 stars on this one--slightly on the upside of so-so. It was okay. A story that came together nicely, albeit a little predictably, with enough suspense and intensity to round out a pretty good plot twist here and there. Actually, much of the suspense is played out in Jaws mode--we were just missing the tuba used to make that scary music. You see, the devil does his work when the lights are off, so we, the audience are previed to the ole "be scared of what you can't see" or "I don't know what's happening, but it must be something horrible" element of fright. Neither of which has ever really been that frightening to me. I see a blank screen and want to yell at the projection guy or take a nap. I guess there are visual learners, so call me a visual-scaredy cat. With that in mind, it really wasn't that scary...just a little suspenseful and intense here and there.

Chris Messina, of Julie and Julia fame, headlines a cast that includes Matt Craven and Jenny O'Hara. Acting was good. Plot was fine and the story moved nicely over the course of 80-minutes. Overall, it's a step forward for M. Night after a string of disappointing original stories that included Lady in the Water, The Village and The Happening.

Well, happy weekend to all!

True...OUT!