Devil: Has M Night had his Day?

"Going down?" the Devil logo leaves little to the imagination
Image courtesy of thepeoplesmovie.com

It's been a long time since The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. And I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that since then, M Night Shyamalan's repertoire hasn't exactly been fantastic when it comes to movies. I needn't divulge further on Signs, The Happening and his more recent fan-angering, franchise betraying piece, The Last Airbender. So with those under his belt, M Night really needed to step his game up with Devil, the first of his series of Night Chronicles. But did he manage it? Well, a clear answer isn't too easy to reach, and you should decide for yourself, but here are my thoughts on it.

First of all it must be known that this film isn't under Shyamalan's direction, the mantle has been handed to John Erick Dowdle, a name that you probably haven't heard of. He's responsible for the direction of Quarantine (The remake of [REC] - but we don't talk about that) and The Poughkeepsie Tapes (a notably unsettling video-camera style horror piece). Now I'm sure many will agree that some of the aspects going into this film aren't exactly real breadwinners. But honestly, I was surprised by this one. I didn't go into Devil assuming it would be outright poor, but at the same time I didn't think it would be half as enjoyable as I found it.

Is this the face of the Devil?
Image courtesy of starseeker.com

The story is another take on a much re-used basis, a group of seemingly unconnected people, trapped in a space, facing death if they don't escape. Wonderful. Now, this wouldn't normally bother me, but I wasn't overly keen on the idea after having been recently subjected to Blackout (another trapped-in-a-lift film). I was worried that I'd be presented with a host of flashbacks and failed escape attempts leading up to an overall Deus Ex-Machina style finish. Now don't get me wrong, you're always bound to get something like that, and with Devil, you do, but you don't get it quite so simply. Sure, you get the bog-standard elevator story at the center, but this time with the extra addition of a religious coating (sounds tasty, right?). There's a narrative running throughout the film, telling a story about how the Devil gathers people to punish them for their sins one by one, the people in this case being those in the elevator. I was worried about the religious aspect actually, I normally hate it when films play 'The God Card', but luckily Devil didn't do it to the point where it was cringeworthy (see Knowing). There is an aspect of God prospering over evil in the movie, but there wasn't too much focus on it, which I can tolerate. After all it wouldn't be right to produce a film called Devil and not have it connect to God in some way, shape or form. It's not like I wasn't expecting to deal with that.

So we have a group of people in an elevator, awaiting punishment from Satan, unbeknownst to them. He proceeds to pick them off one by one, playing them against one another as paranoia sets in and they begin to accuse each other of all sorts. All the while, Detective John Bowden tries to save them in any way he can from the security room in the same building, using a one-way radio and what he can see on a security camera, he is almost powerless to aid them from their seemingly inescapable fates. The film is pretty slow boiling to begin with and whilst some declared the plot as 'obvious from the start' on the way out of the theatre, I personally think it's enough to keep you guessing for a decent part of it, after all Shyamalan is involved... there was always bound to be a plot twist.

Accusations begin to fly in the elevator
Image courtesy of Imdb.com

Looking at the mechanics of the film, it's easy to assume that it could be quite a boring ride. But what Devil actually gives, is a genuinely uncomfortable watch, that with the use of some great camerawork will shake you up and disorientate you to the core. At some points, I began to feel just as claustrophobic as the characters stuck in the elevator would've, which was a great experience. There was also a fantastic use of darkness throughout the movie, plunging the room into shadow with nothing but the sound of screams and flesh tearing to fill it. It was arguably a cop out to do these scenes in the dark, but I think leaving something to the imagination is much better than spelling it out so obviously, plus the plot would've been given away if it happened in plain view. Oh, and- fear not, gore-lovers! There's some pretty nasty shots thrown in for you as well, broken necks and sliced jugulars anyone? I should also mention that the opening shots are great too, a birds eye view of New York City is filmed beautifully, and played upside down, again adding to the disorientating atmosphere of the movie.

The cast is composed of relatively unknown faces which I always like to see in films, as sometimes I find the big-names distracting in certain movies. The familiar faces and more memorable characters in the movie were played by Chris Messina (Away We Go, Vicky Cristina Barcelona) and Geoffrey Arend (500 Days of Summer) but the rest of the cast did an equally fine job too, really aiding the films overall feel. Once you put the acting talent in with the unsettling camera angles, it actually works quite well. There's hope for Dowdle's direction yet, it seems!

The Verdict

Sceptics will decry this movie before seeing it, labelling it as another Shyamalan failure but I think in this case they're wrong. Whilst this isn't a ground breaking piece of cinema, it's a nice little time-killer and is easy to sit back and enjoy. Plus it's M Night's best work in realistically, about 10 years. Although it wasn't really worth that much of a wait. A simple premise with caricature roles, a few cheap jumps, a twisting plot and some great cinematography in places, this is a paint-by-numbers thriller. It's nothing special, but if you have the hour and a half spare, it wouldn't kill you to check this one out. We look forward to the next instalment in The Night Chronicles but for now Devil has earned itself a comfortable 5/10, Shyamalan isn't quite dead yet, but he's no threat either...

Best of Foreign: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Män Hatar Som Kvinnor)

The Swedish Poster for the movie
Image courtesy of Obsessedwithfilm.com

The late Stieg Larsson's dark crime thriller had me gripped from start to finish. The film is the first installment in The Millenium Trilogy and is the story of Michael Blomvkist (Michael Nyqvist), a journalist for 'Millenium Magazine'. Renowned for his investigative skills, he is recruited by Henrik Vagner (Sven-Bertil Taube) the ex-CEO of a major capitalist corporation to track down a woman who vanished without a trace from her hometown Hedeby more than 40 years ago, who he believes was murdered by one of his family members. What follows is a mysterious and tense investigation into a web of deceit, religion and serial murder. During this time, Blomkvist meets the intriguing Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), a skilled computer hacker and private investigator (hired to spy on Bolmkvist), with a background darker than the backroom of a soho strip club. They join forces and work together to solve the classic 'whodunnit' mystery of the missing woman, putting themselves in danger and growing closer along their journey deeper into the investigation. As Blomkvist becomes obsessed and isloated because of the case, they slowly unravel a series of clues, unearthing family secrets and solving a series of brutal murders along the way.

The film is atmospheric from the off, it's opening scene alone should be enough to keep you wanting more. The score has moments of beauty, and whilst it's played over some of the occasionally stunning, sometimes unsettling and eerie imagery, it makes for a powerhouse of an experience. It's directed by Niels Arden Oplev and he has definitely made his mark with the help of his talented cast Noomi Rapace (below) is particularly impressive as the titular Lisbeth. I should probably mention that the movie is in Swedish with English subtitles though they are no issue whatsoever, but if you are one of those people that somehow can't read subs and watch a film simultaneously (shame on you), the DVD release does come with an English audio dub, so you really don't have any excuse for not watching this one. Although I sampled the audio dub version, and simply couldn't bare it.

Manhandled: Noomi Rapace as the sexually abused Lisbeth
Image courtesy of beamesonfilm.blogspot.com

I only have a few real gripes with the film, one being that some scenes feel a little rushed and abrupt, in particular the final scenes after the investigation. But the rest of the film has clearly had so much care put into it, that I can excuse the final segment after the resolution for being a tad shallow. Plus at 180 minutes long and with so much covered in that time, the film can feel quite lengthy, much longer added and it could've potentially started to outstay it's welcome, but the timing was more or less just right in the end. The other gripe being the film's title, which I will explain in due course.

One of the things that intrigues me the most about this film is it's background. It's original Swedish title is  Män Hatar Som Kvinnor which literally translates into Men Who Hate Women, a title with a lot more relevance and history than it's much more marketable English version. Larsson was witness to a gang rape when he was just fifteen years old and he openly confessed that he didn't do anything to help. He pays homage to the victim in the story, naming his empowered female protagonist Lisbeth after her. This event in his life carries much more weight than just a name though, rape is a commonplace topic in the film, alongside Nazism, journalism and moral corruption in society (all issues occurring in Sweden which Larsson felt strongly about) and I think that going into the movie knowing this makes everything seem so much more true to life. The way he deals with the abusal of women throughout the story is crushingly brutal in places, but remains within reason and doesn't draw too much away from the story with shocking imagery (this is no Irreversible, but it isn't one for the naive either). That is why Män Hatar Som Kvinnor is for me, a far superior title. And thus comes my second issue with the film. The 'dragon tattoo' as mentioned in the title is an utterly irrelevant plot point in the film, I haven't read the book admittedly, so I don't know just how relevant it is to the original story, but in this adaption it's meaning is minimal, shown briefly in two scenes, with nothing more said on it, when I'm assuming it has more meaning than that. I also feel that this makes Lisbeth the focal point to the film, despite her coming across as more of a supporting role next to Mikael. This says one word to me... 'marketing', I mean, who'd want to see a movie with a foreign title? sigh.

Harriet, the missing woman, but who killed her?
Image courtesy of Guardian.co.uk

The Verdict

Title issues aside, the film is a treat to watch. With interesting characters and history and some very dark imagery, Män Hatar Som Kvinnor will have you gripped from the word go, and has a very strong impact, thus earning itself a solid 8/10. It has a fantastic mystery plot which will keep you guessing until it's climatic finish, but take heed, with brutal murders and sexual violence, this isn't your average episode of Murder She Wrote. Stieg Larsson's story is believable and with Oplev's directing it really comes to life, so if you're bored of Britain and have had enough of Hollywood, then I recommend you check out this Swedish thriller as soon as possible.