zaterdag 22 februari 2014

Devil (2010)

Genre : Horror
Country:Canada/USA

Cast :
Chris Messina : Detective Bowden
Geoffrey Arend : Verkoper
Logan Marshall-Green : Mekanieker

Director :
John Erick Dowdle

Summary
Bowden, a police detective who is dealing with his drinking problem, investigates a strange suicide, when he's suddenly called for a seemingly innocuous event. Five people are stuck in the elevator of a huge skyscraper. But after a while some extraordinary things begin to happen and the people in the elevator inexplicably die one by one.

My opinion

If the Devil is real, then God must be real, too.

Sometimes you come across a movie that isn't that much of a deal, but still manages to captivate in some way. "Devil" is such a movie. A parable-like movie about the evil in mankind, and the fact that Evil sometimes manifests itself among us.

The complete movie is almost entirely set in an elevator that gets stuck with five people inside it. As the film progresses you learn that each of them isn't such an innocent soul and has something to answer for. While they are stuck there, after a while, it's clear that the devil is among them and starts a drop out race where one after the other is killed. Meanwhile Detective Bowden arrived to investigate a mysterious suicide and thus becomes involved in this sinister cat and mouse game.

The fact that it's all happening on a few square meters, and every time somebody is about to become a victim this occurs in total darkness with only some noises in the background, makes sure that it wasn't an exciting or scary movie. You can imagine what's happening but the actual slaughter you won't see at all. Only the result. Bowden, who is fighting an alcohol addiction after he lost his family a few months earlier, witnesses a situation with an ordinary stuck elevator escalating into a seemingly clever set up murder plan. Because of a religious Mexican he starts to realize that it could well be something supernatural.

The one who excels the most in this movie is of course Chris Messina who plays a tormented personality in a beautiful way. You see him slowly grow as the film nears the end. The rest simply acts mediocre to extremely poor. The only one I would give some credit is Bokeem Woodbine who plays a neurotic guard who suffers from claustrophobia in a rather good way. Ultimately, it's still a surprising end and the moral of the story is that a person who shows repentance still can be saved.

A short and enjoyable movie that doesn't leave a lasting impression.