Director: Antonio Campos
Writer: Antonio Campos, Paulo Campos (Screenplay) Donald Ray Pollock (Novel)
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, Bill Skarsgard, Haley Bennett, Riley Keough, Harry Melling, Sebastian Stan, Mia Wasikowska
Plot: Sinister characters converge around a young man devoted to protecting those he loves in a postwar backwoods town teeming with corruption and brutality.
Tagline – Some people are just born to be buried.
Runtime: 2 Hour 18 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Devil All the Time starts as Willard Russell (Skarsgard) returns from war, in a place where he had to commit an action he will never tell anyone, losing his faith in God, the one thing that had driven him for years, until he returns home marries Charlotte (Bennett) and have their first child Arvin, even though his mother prayed to keep him safe to marry Helen (Wasikowska).
When Arvin (Holland) grows up, he decides he wants to protected his loved ones, including Lenora (Scanlen) his step-sister and when a new preacher, Preston Teagardin (Pattinson) arrives in the town, something doesn’t connect with the way he handles his community.
Thoughts on The Devil All the Time
Characters – Arvin is the son of a war veteran, he has been incredible pain through his childhood, this gave him the mentality to protect the people he loves, one that will see him commit violence towards the people who go against them. Preston Teagardin is the latest preacher to the area, he tries to make everyone feel welcomed to the town, even if he has a way about him, which is one that will cross the lines. Carl and Sandy spend years luring men into their own sadistic pleasure, while the film does have many more characters we meet who find themselves getting involved in something they shouldn’t.
Performances – The performances in the film are strong, with Tom Holland being the standout of the whole cast, Jason Clarke and Riley Keough work well together too and Robert Pattinson, keeps up his trend of giving us the unusual roles.
Story – The story here follows a group of different people who are connected in a rural southern area, going through a different set of events, which will usually see them get involved in violence, while balancing the idea of God being involved in life. The story here is messy for the most part, we jump all over the place, we meet characters that don’t seem to have much point behind us needing to meet them and by the end of the film you will be left wondering what just happened. When we look into the messages in the film, it seems like we are meant to believe that things will catch up with you, if you are going against God’s will, which seems like it is trying to hard to just bump it on the nose for you.
Crime – The film takes us into the crime world of seeing how different people will deal with problems or fantasies in their lives.
Settings – The film is set in the Southern Rural area, which will show how people can get away with things, how people use the area to their advantage.
Scene of the Movie – Arvin meets Sandy and Carl.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Too many characters not doing much.
Final Thoughts – This is a crime thriller that deals us with too many characters that don’t seem to have much to do, while trying to connect the bigger picture for the most part, saved only by the performances being delivered.