The Devil All the Time – Movie Reviews by Ry!

The Devil All the Time – Life’s Devotion: Calamity and Hope  

The collective of thoughts lead to ideas within circumstance.  Looking at what can be, it is those moving parts that can turn the unknown into an amazing journey.  In this latest review, I look at a film that moves through this collective in a darkly manner.  With a strong ensemble cast, The Devil All the Time pushes the audience through a hardship of delicate storytelling.  Even when things fall into convenience, The Devil All the Time is a harrowing tale that shows the rawness of human devotion.

Arvin Russell (Tom Holland) is a young man trying to survive with his family in rural West Virginia.  With sinister elements all around, he must find a way to stay true to himself and protect the ones he loves.  From the onset, this is a story that infuses different techniques to create an outline that is detailed but convoluted.  The detailed nature comes in the introduction of several characters.  Each are placed at different points (and places) throughout the first half, creating relevancy through purposeful misdirection.  Within each character, you sense a rawness of human devotion.  As each character moves through their own lives, it levels out the convoluted aspect through voice over narration.  The foundation slowly builds, revealing interesting aspect of Arvin and William Russell (Bill Skarsgard), Preston Teagardin (Robert Pattinson) and Carl Henderson (Jason Clarke).  Deep characterization is pushed aside for the drop-in method, allowing the audience to live through individual circumstances.  Everything is left on uneasy ground, where flawed conception of belief reveals faults in each person.  As you witness the growth of the world around, you get a sense of the endearing challenges that level out the ‘what’ and ‘why’ people decide what they do.  The challenge that is faced is a matter of natural circumstance, driven by a conscious level of situations.  By seeing the characters in their environment, it provides a through line for the loose storytelling, drawing emotional fervor to the unpredictability of nature’s wrath.  This leads to a second half where everything starts to unravel in the causality of the aftermath.

Once in the second half, the looseness of the story starts to converge on a singular purpose.  As revelations of characters come to light, it engulfs the unwanted casualties on a destructive path of human calamity.  With strong foreshadowing and beguiled motives, you have a lot of convenient confrontations that level out the genuine details of life.  As certain characters cross paths, it brings to light a mirrored complexion of righteousness in the dark.  This leads into a climax that brings closure through the ideal of human value.  The Devil All the Time is a drama that pushes the extremes of human frailty.  Even with some convoluted detail and convenient elements, the strong acting brings you an indelible experience.  If you are a fan of the ensemble pieces or dark dramas, this is one for you.  It is available on Netflix, but this would be worth the full price at the theaters.

Full Score – 4 out of 5 (Full Price)