Ever since “The Sixth Sense,” M. Night Shyamalan has been struggling to find his next blockbuster. With “Devil,” we see his most recent attempt to redeem himself from lackluster projects like this summer’s miserable “The Last Airbender.”
“Devil,” the director’s latest stab at redemption, does little to restore any sort of legitimacy to Shyamalan’s name.
Directed by John Erick Dowdle and produced by Shyamalan, the movie has a relatively simple premise of the Devil tormenting and killing off five unsuspecting characters that are stuck in an elevator.
Through their own respective past, each character has committed some act of sin that, by fate, has led them together into a single location. Stripped to its core, the story is the old, fabled tale of good and evil put into a modern setting. The potential for a good movie is here, but execution is where “Devil” falters.
None of the five, unnamed characters in the elevator are enduring or memorable. From the annoyingly sleazy salesman (Geoffrey Arend) to the seemingly innocent woman (Bojana Novakovic), each character falls complacently into a predictable stereotype.
The writing certainly does not help character development either. At one tense point in the movie, the guard (Bokeem Woodbine) goes up to the suspicious ex-solider (Logan Marshall-Green) and says with complete seriousness, “I’m not your bro.”
Riddled with shoddy dialogue and unintentionally humorous scenes, the film fails to retain any sense of emotional attachment by the time it reaches its unfulfilling twist ending.
Admittedly, the technical aspects of the film are respectable. The closed-off, narrow camerawork creates a fitting sense of confinement and the use of complete onscreen darkness builds tension.
Nevertheless, these things cannot save “Devil” from the depths of mediocrity. Here’s hoping that Shyamalan’s next two entries can redeem him from the devilish wrath of the critics.
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