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film review: “The devil all the time”

Netflix’s latest original film, The Devil All the Time, packs a star-studded cast, and a harrowing story into a film that couldn’t quite hold it all. As a miniseries, perhaps, a tale like this would have flourished, but in feature length format, its lack of narrative focus holds it from excellence often. The performances, particularly from Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson, are captivating, proving to be one of Holland’s toughest and coldest roles in his career. Pattinson continues to be one of the best actors working today, and the two are brutally well-paired in their one scene together. Too bad we didn’t get more. Anyway, the whole first act is just mediocre, bland and generic, undoubtedly the weakest bit of the film, it really only starts to pick up about one hour in to its 2 hours and 18 minutes. With a cast of this caliber, I was definitely expecting more, but this murder-happy, grim thriller should be appealing enough to be worth a watch. Especially since it’s free.

Oh, just another quick fact, it spans two decades. Director Antonio Campos directs his first full 60 minutes mostly in the past. Holland isn’t the lead until about the 1/3 mark, till then, it’s up to Pennywise…I mean Bill Skarsgard to keep it on its feet. The guy does what he can, giving his all with a solid accent, but his featured section is too tedious to be effective, so, unfortunately, the talented actor is mostly left in the wind. Skarsgard plays Willard Russel, Holland’s character’s father, and his storyline generally takes place directly after his service in World War II. We get a bloody sequence showcasing the horrors he faced, but the film chucks it off into the distance before we can get any true sympathy for the character. Willard, after the war, begins a relationship with waitress Charlotte (Hayley Bennet). The rest of that tired first act is mostly about their relationship, raising Arvin (their son), and dealing with the grief of her suddenly passing from cancer.

The span of this thing is too difficult to cover in just one review. There’s such a vast amount of potentially intriguing characters that don’t get their worth of screen time. Eliza Scanlen, who’s claim to fame was the delightful Little Women remake, is very good in the movie. Mia Wasikoswka also nabs a small role, along with Sebastian Stan (yes, from Marvel), Harry Melling, Riley Keough, and even Jason Clarke. If each storyline were given an episode or so to really grow in a series, we may have gotten some fantastic development. Disappointingly, you really feel the running time that can only tell so much. The main plot all takes place about 20 years later, when Arvin is coming-of-age with Roy Laferty’s (Melling) daughter Lenora (Scanlen) and all the ruthless criminals around them in a podunk town called Knockemstiff.

Right around this part, the man, the myth, the legend arrives. Mr. Pattinson, who plays a seemingly devout preacher that’s got something to hide. Also, Team Edward. Sorry, something came out of my mouth there. For the past decade, Pattinson has been recovering from his embarrassing debut in the Twilight franchise, and brought back his name through a set of indies. Now, he’s Batman, and has been in a Christopher Nolan movie. Not bad, huh? With a southern drawl and some icky secrets, the actor plays the hell out of this role. His gleefully devilish and evil character get’s the benefit at the expense of the supporting characters’ development. Holland is the most surprising, however, his descent into darkness and murder is a vicious turn we never knew we needed from the once innocent actor.

Excluding the two lead performances, there’s actually plenty of good things. The score, composed by Saunder Jurriaans, is beautiful, haunting, and above all melancholy. All things technically were top-notch, the cinematography, done by Lol Crawley, is also propelled by some extraordinary shots that mostly undo an otherwise blandly-looking movie. The Devil All the Time is a sprawling drama, it’s got so much rippling under its surface, but the film doesn’t quite unlock all of the brimming potential. All the violence is there, the two leads are golden, and the movie shows us plenty of bad behavior, though all of the stuff that could have made it a top-tier film of 2020 fails to shine. So many things work, it comes so close, yet so far.

The final opinion is: Although more screen-time for its supporting characters, and some narrative focus could have made it better, The Devil All the Time is still a suitably gripping, southern gothic thriller that benefits from standout performances from Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson…STREAM IT

Tom Holland's a Sinner in Netflix's "The Devil All the Time"

film review: “The devil all the time”

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