The Devil All the Time | Film Review

Hey Guys x

I heard a lot about this film before seeing it - so much, in fact, that I was a bit put off. From what I could see, it was either the best film someone had seen in their entire life, or it was so boring and slow that you'd wish for your time back. So while I didn't watch it right away, I was ultimately intrigued about it - however I would eventually feel about it.

Two generations are affected by tragedies that cause Arvin Russell (Tom Holland) to take matters into his own hands.

This was a hard one to describe, and to talk about, but I really really liked it. It was so different from what I expected, and that really worked.

The fact that it doesn't reveal much, particularly in the beginning, could either be seen as being slow, or being intriguing. For me, it started slow, but after the first 15 minutes, I did become really intrigued.

The thing that had me completely hooked was the relationship between Arvin and Lenora (Eliza Scanlen). It was something that I didn't expect, and it was just lovely to see the way that these two characters interacted with each other. And, spoiler alert, this isn't a romantic relationship, which to me makes it even better.

But speaking of these characters, the character of Arvin is really interesting, and really well-written. But so are the majority of the supporting characters. This is a story full of great characters.

And with great characters, come great actors. Tom Holland, as the main character, has been mentioned a lot. And with good reason. He did such a great job as Arvin Russell, and I definitely wasn't thinking about any of his other roles. And the same goes for Robert Pattinson (Reverend Preston Teagardin), who has also been talked about a lot. His role wasn't as big, but it was just as three-dimensional, and it would have been nice to see more of him.

And in terms of the other supporting characters, Bill Skarsgaard (Willard Russell) was great in the small role he had, but I also think Eliza Scanlen should be spoken about more, because she played such an important part, and did it so well.  

This film has a few storylines, and one of the things that I love about these stories is the way that they come together, separate and come together again. This is done really skilfully, and I assume this comes from the book (though I haven't read it). And in the same way, the timeline goes back and forth between different periods of time, but never gets confusing. The story is crafted really well.

But that's not to say that I completely loved the film and had no problems with it.

My main gripe about the film has to do with the variety of storylines. As much as I liked the way the storylines went together, I feel like it would have been better, less confusing, and shorter, if they had stuck to one storyline - preferably Arvin and Lenora's. 

For me, the Jason Clarke/Riley Keough storyline was, until it was almost over, the worst one in the film. It is entertaining enough, but it just doesn't fit with anything else in the film.

Another thing I didn't really like was the narration. For the most part, it felt unnecessary. He/it tended to over-explain things and ended up taking some of the mystery out of certain scenes.

In addition, Sebastian Stan should have been given more to do. He didn't really get to shine until near the end of the film, and by then it was bittersweet because, until then, the character had been kind of bland.

Overall, this was a much better film than I assumed it would be. It's a thriller that actually leaves you with some thrills, the characters are compelling, and you'll definitely be thinking about it after the credits roll.

7/10

Lou