The Devil's Own

Starring: Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt, Margaret Colin, Ruben Blades, Treat Williams, George Hearn, Mitchell Ryan, Natascha McElhone, Julia Stiles, Rob McElhenney
Directed by: Alan J. Pakula
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Action
1997

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: A police officer (Harrison Ford) unknowingly allows an IRA terrorist (Brad Pitt) to stay in his house.

Review:

Tim: It's funny, there's a number of movies like The Devil's Own- films I saw many, many years ago, before I started tracking movies at The Movie Files. I retained an idea of what I thought about them, but hadn't committed those thoughts in writing. When I finally rewatched The Devil's Own, it's pretty much exactly as I remember it. It's a decent movie, but the quality doesn't match the talent involved. With Alan J. Pakula directing, two of the biggest stars in lead roles, and a solid supporting cast, this movie should absolutely have been better than it was.

The story has always felt off to me. It's like it has some decent ideas, but the way they're presented is flawed. Brad Pitt is an IRA terrorist, but otherwise a charming, cool guy. He escapes Europe, moves to the United States, and stays with a cop in his basement. This sets up a potentially dangerous situation, as these two men are very different and yet living in the same house. Some things happen and it results in a big climax. It feels like the entire film is comprised of decent ideas that are never fully executed. It wasn't much of a surprise for me to read that there were a great deal of issues on the set. I've read about clashes between Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt, script changes, a whole lot of distractions. That makes absolute sense. Something went very wrong with the creation of this movie. I really like Alan J. Pakula as a director- I thoroughly enjoyed the other 5 movies of his I've seen (all ranked 7.5 or higher!). This, the last film before his death, is worse than all of those.

This is the defining characteristic of the film. It's not that the movie is bad, but it's deeply flawed. It feels like there were multiple competing interests at play, verses one cohesive vision for the movie. It's kind of fascinating to see what happens when a movie can't decide who to focus on. Is this a movie primarily focused on Harrison Ford's character? Brad Pitt's? Both equally? The movie itself is never sure, so the entire story falls apart. It's hard to watch because while this movie is decent, without those big obstacles, it feels like Pakula could have delivered another effective movie.

Now, it seems like Ford and Pitt clashed on the set, which is too bad. That's perhaps the biggest attraction of the entire film. Ford and Pitt are two of the great actors and it was a delight to see them together here. Both men give good performances and it was genuinely fun to see them interact. The movie itself was pretty disappointing, but I enjoyed getting to see these two. Treat Williams adds a decent performance, and I enjoyed seeing Natascha McElhone here. It was fun seeing an early Julia Stiles role. The cast was really good, which just makes the movie that much more frustrating- it really should have been much better.

I've said how much I respect and appreciate Pakula as a director, and it's a testament to his skill that he manages to salvage a decent movie out of an absolute mess. There's a number of strong moments throughout this film. He can't string them all together in a compelling narrative, but there's definitely good scenes. I enjoyed the pool scene with Ford and Pitt. Some of the showdown scenes between Pitt and Williams are fun. Ford's character had some fascinating scenes, most especially of the shooting. Those felt disconnected from the rest of the movie, but they were so good it felt like a movie just focused on Ford's character could have worked on its own. There's certainly things to like about this movie.

The Devil's Own is a disappointment, but there's enough talent here that I'd still consider it a decent movie. I've seen it twice now, which is more than enough. It's a forgettable, flawed movie. I wish Pakula's final film had been stronger, more worthy of his talent as a director.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: All the President's Men, Presumed Innocent, Snatch, The Pelican Brief