Currently streaming on Netflix Nick Clement delivers his The Devil All the Time Review.
This is a damn good if somewhat familiar-feeling movie.
SUPER grim and very violent and totally messed up and populated with hostile, volatile characters who undoubtedly have dirt under their fingernails, bad teeth, and worse breath, and are in serious need of a good, hot bath to wash all the filth and evil off their skin.
But what I liked the most about this morally ambiguous slice of nastiness – outside of the wonderful production/aesthetic elements and the witty voice-over which was supplied by original author Donald Ray Pollock – was that the lead character, played very well by Tom Holland, wasn’t a bad guy, per se, but someone who had inherited violence from his father as if it were a sickness, and someone who isn’t interested in seeing good, innocent people getting taken advantage of.
The fact that he always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time speaks to the novelistic qualities of the storytelling, with intelligent filmmaker Antonio Campos (Afterschool, Simon Killer, Christine – all fantastic) taking his time over the course of two hours and 20 minutes and telling a patient, multi-generational story centered in a small, beautifully named, rural Ohio town (Knockemstiff), where all of the s**t-kickers who call it home are essentially up to no good.
This film, much to my happiness, takes a big fat dump all over evangelical preachers (Robert Pattinson steals the show, again), and also features the saucy Riley Keough (adore her) in another provocative supporting performance; also, any movie that features shifty and oily Jason Clarke in the ensemble gets an extra half-a-star just for being smart enough to do that.
The Devil All The Time Review by Nick Clement
Our Rating
Summary
I’d imagine that the Coen brothers and hot-shot filmmaker Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin, Green Room, Hold the Dark) must love this new down and dirty crime picture, which is currently streaming on Netflix.
