Devil (2010)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1314655/

My Synopsis: Five shady characters trapped in an elevator and one may be (the/a?) devil. Oh! And there's a tweest!

Comments: By now it's no secret that I am a masochist. There's nothing I like more than torturing myself by watching ridiculous crap that had no reason for existing. But in my defense I do these things for you. That's right, I am the self appointed martyr of the bad film world. I subject myself to cruel tortures to prove not only that my opinions have to be correct (I mean how can I vocally assault something without seeing it) but I also do it as a service to you, my faithful reader, as a warning to what you should undoubtedly avoid. I crucify myself for you, I am Jesus! Ok, that's over doing it. I have no delusions of savior. But I hope I save someone with this review. Although judging by the fact he keeps making movies (or adding his name to them) there are far more sadistic people than me out there.
'Devil' begs the question, even if you were making a supernatural flick with twists and turns, why would you think having M. Night claim it would help you? Now if Rod Serling was still alive I could see it, we're talking track record of quality stories, something M. Night is grossly lacking at this point. So much so the studio quickly went into damage control mode by limiting his name being mentioned in the trailers. It didn't stop it from dominating the open credits, of course, exclusive contracts rule. Apparently 'Devil' is executively produced by Shyamalan and is part of the M. Night Chronicles. I'm both unsure and worried as to which chronicles he is referring too. I can only assume it is a chronicle of movies 'inspired' by him. All the promo for this movie says “from the mind of.” This is a scary thought, especially since, and it pains me to admit this, 'Devil' doesn't even match up to Shyamalamadingdongs usual standards. Let me explain...

We'll begin with the story. Now I honestly don't care to be spoiler free, not just because of the usual ridiculousness of Night movie twists, but also because the first fifteen minutes makes the end obvious. Even so here's your warning, if you are determined to be 'shocked' by the twists stop reading now! Ok then, for the rest of us I continue...



As previously mentioned; five shady characters are trapped in an elevator - a mattress selling con man, a bad attitude temp security guard, a spoiled rich girl, a bitter old woman and a PTSD ex-marine. I know, it sounds like a joke. Which it pretty much is. The character development was almost non-existent and that which did exist popped in so fast that if you blinked you would have missed it. Which is why the only thing I remember about the old women and rich girl is spoiled and bitter. Now the PTSD guy is easy to remember because more time was spent on his flashbacks. Which means he's more important than the rest. Which leads us to the cop who also has a lot of baggage in the form of losing his wife and kid to a hit and run driver he can't seem to find. I think you know where this is going. Long story short, while trying to figure out how to get the people out of the elevator, as they one by one get killed off during power outages, the twist unravels without many questions. Thus not very Shyamalan like. Everyone knows a M. twist usually involves the most ridiculous answers. This made too much sense! In the meantime we get to watch the people stuck in the elevator become suspicious of each other as they are one by one killed off.



Finally, there was a worthwhile thing to mention about this movie. The end. Not just because it was over, although that was my favorite part, but the old woman that appears at the end was a very good devil. And though Mr. PTSD gets redemption (not sure why it was even offered to him while the others were indiscriminately eliminated, maybe because he was the only one with a little guilt) the devil woman gets the best line in the whole movie. 'Damn, I wanted you.' I can't say an hour and a half of crap was worth getting to that line, but it worked for me.

So, the lesson the movie is trying to teach us is that sinners will get there's, Hispanic elevator techs can prove the devil is around by dropping jellied toast and it landing jelly side down, and that M. Night should not only stop making movies, but inspiring them as well. Also, I really think Bruce Willis should have been in it. He would have made a great old lady devil.



Yea, you know it's true. Awesome call back to an earlier review no?

'til next we bleed...
JP