Devil's Advocate is a 1997 suspenseful drama film based on the novel by Andrew Nedman, directed by Tears director Taylor Heckford and starring Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino, Charlize Theron, and Connie Nelson.
Kevin (Keanu Reeves) is an invincible young lawyer with an astonishing winning streak in a Florida courtroom that forces him to give his all to every case.
A middle school teacher accused of sexually harassing female students, entrusted Kevin to defend him, good at manipulating the jury perception of Kevin, even if it is obvious that the defendant may have criminal facts, but for his undefeated status, or try to defend the customer, and finally won the case, the winning streak continued, and thus became famous.
The young and promising lawyer, and the relationship between his wife Marianne (Charlize Theron), are like glue, and at this moment, their lives, from this moment on, are about to spread their wings.
Kevin's outstanding performance makes John Mill (Al Pacino), the owner of a large law firm in Manhattan, very appreciative, through his subordinates, he finds Kevin, saying that he can provide the best accommodation, salary and benefits, and invites Kevin to new York to work for his own firm.
To this end, his wife Marianne quit her job, moved to New York with her husband, moved into a high-end apartment provided by the company, and began a glamorous social life with the wives of other lawyers.
Kevin went to work and was assigned to defend the sorcerer who slaughtered animals; the case was won by his defense and the wizard's practices.
Immediately after, the boss, John Mill, gave him another difficult task: a wealthy businessman was prosecuted by prosecutors for the murder of his wife and stepson. Since the wealthy businessman is a big client of the firm, the importance of this lawsuit is even more important.
Kevin's mother, a devout Christian, often quoted bible stories to confront Kevin. After moving to New York, Marianne became more and more unhappy, except for her new girlfriends, who often shopped and chatted together, and she had almost no one to talk to; her husband was busy with work all day, and the big and small things in the family could only be taken care of by her.
The owner, John Mill, is unmarried, but he is always surrounded by all kinds of beautiful women, and in the firm, a certain bright female lawyer deeply attracts Kevin's eyes, and even when he makes love to his wife, he thinks of the face of the female colleague.
The various tasks assigned by John Mill, including litigation and socializing, had completely ruined Kevin's private life, and the mental condition of his wife, Marianne, was deteriorating, but the ambitious young lawyer was bent on sprinting for a career; he thought it was not too late to return to the family when it was time to succeed.
After coming to New York to visit her son's mother, after meeting her son's boss in the elevator, John Mill, and the beautiful woman next to him, she is determined to confess to her son that John Mill is actually his biological father, and reminds his son to pay great attention to the mental condition of his daughter-in-law Marianne.
The rich businessman's lawsuit is about to go to trial, and at the same time, the firm's senior partner is killed by a tramp for no reason while jogging.
Determined to win, Kevin used fake witnesses in court to try to exonerate him by presenting the alibi of the accused rich businessman; at the same time, his wife was raped by John Mill.
Kevin did not believe what his wife said, for John Mill had been in his line of sight at the time of the trial; yet Marianne, at last, had a nervous breakdown and was killed in front of her husband with a sharp object.
After his wife's death, Kevin angrily seeks out John Mill, and the truth is revealed: John Mill is the embodiment of Satan, and the female colleague of the crush is actually the lawyer's half-sister.
John Mill hoped that Kevin and his sister would be able to have sex and give birth to a purebred demon child; at this time, Kevin, who seemed to have no choice, unexpectedly took out a gun and exploded his own head.
Time and space suddenly return to the beginning of the movie, the moment when Kevin defends the teacher of the sexual assault case. Stepping out of the bathroom, he looked at the auditorium, his beloved wife was still alive, and he was determined to give up defending the wolf master, even if he was suspended for it.
The reporter, who had been following the lawsuit, stopped the departing lawyer couple in the stairwell, and the young lawyer who had always taken a resolute attitude was shaken by the reporter's words: "If you can let me interview, I can let you be exempted from suspension!" 」 Kevin finally chose to defend himself; and the reporter was John Mill, who once again grasped the heart of a vain lawyer.
The movie "Devil's Spokesman" powerfully divides the boundaries between "good" and "evil" into two, but the elusive human nature always wants to walk in the middle of the binary, looking for gray areas.
The job of defence counsel should, in the right words, be to ensure that everyone can be tried in dignity and that the human rights of every offender are guaranteed until the facts of the crime have been determined.
However, once everything is caught in the fire and becomes a record of pursuing self-interest, all distorted and sick conditions may occur.
The debate and attack and defense of the court were originally intended to make the facts more and more clearly visible through dialectics, but under the manipulation of human beings, they gradually degenerated into the performance stage of legal stars, and mixed "truth" and "lies" into a lump of mud.
Kevin, on the other hand, is very good at dealing with serious and dialectical roles, and he is always able to clearly show the determination and contradictions of each character.
As for why he didn't ask the Emperor of Shadows? Probably because he is so handsome, the producers and directors, and even the film critics forget that he is actually a valuable and good actor.
In the film, the two actors Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino play each other's acting skills, plus charlize Theron and Connie Nelson's three-point exposed youthful flesh, it is indeed worth seeing