The Devil's Own (1997)

The devil at home!

This is a worthy to watch film, because we are talking about Alan Pakula, one of the most talented and intelligent American directors of his generation who bet for a script of beating actuality.

A young Irish terrorist goes to New York in order to broke an arms deal and get room just at home of a very honest cop (who has not the minor idea whom is lodging).

The plot resents itself, specially in what concerns the predictable final. But the initial shooting sequence is now a cult reference.

Brad Pitt is credible as the ruthless terrorist and Ford is at top level with this hard role, on one hand he has to cover a grievous mistake of his partner and the other he will have to deal with the disillusion of having lodged an outlaw of such importance, widely wanted in Europe.

Above the average, but the script had by itself major stamina to expose.
October 6, 2008

The Devil's Own

I like to watch any H. Fords movies, I cant think of any movies he has been in that it was seen over and over agin.
L Sturdavant October 3, 2008

Falls flat...

This movie tried very hard to avoid the political context and background of the IRA/UK conflict...too hard! What you got instead were two movies in one sloppily plasted together.

At first you have the IRA Guerrilla Frankie McGuire (Pitt) fighting off hoards of British soldiers in Belfast. Literally ten minutes later you are zoomed to New York City where you will not hear another word about the IRA for quite some time. Instead you are immersed in a story about the life of NYPD cop Tom O'Mera (Ford). Now you get the story of the never ending drama in Tom's life, family, work, etc. You began to forget the IRA has anything to do with the film.

The movie then attempts to contemplate the concepts of political violence and murder through a series of well acted but over dramatic dialogues between Pitt and Ford.

I got the movie with the intent of seeing a dramatized political thriller but instead got a softened look at the life of an NYPD officer (which I didn't care about in the least bit) and an IRA gunmen to a far lesser extent. Good acting with bad writing equals a mess. You can't tackle a situation as complex as the IRA conflict and simplify it to the extent the film did to avoid getting political. Very disappointed. September 14, 2008

Minus five stars

This movie is a genuine setback for the intellectual future of mankind. Somebody in the production team should be slapped, I'm not kidding. I read somewhere that Ford and Pitt tried to distance themselves from this stinker, and I'm not surprised. Shame on them for taking the big Bucks in the first place. A case of two pampered actors adding fuel to a (then) fire that really needed no fuel adding to it, from a safe distance, whilst doing themselves a lot of good in the process. To just say it's confused, etc, is really letting it off the hook. It's awful, but if you're into 'pro Irish/anti British' you'll probably put this right next to the copies of Braveheart and The Patriot you already have on your shelf. If you haven't seen it yet, just borrow it, and don't say 'thankyou' to the lender.

Take care,

Baby Cromwell March 2, 2008

I wanted a different ending

When Hollywood finally chooses to make a movie about the struggles, it of course chooses to tell us that even though those nasty Prods have no problem killing our people in cold blood, obtaining the arms to fight back is wrong and must be stopped by Captain America aka Harrison Ford. Please spare me from this awful movie. Shades of Tom Clancy and the rest of the UK suck ups in Hollywood. How would they like it if Malibu was taken over by "gasp" republicans andresidency was limited to non-actors and they had to live in San Bernadino? January 26, 2007

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