Directed by Antonio Campos, The Devil All The Time narrative snakes through multiple intersecting stories, all coalescing around a central anti-hero. The twisting narrative is driven forward by gripping performances from a stacked cast. Holland plays the lead role of Arvin Russell while Pattinson portrays the sinister Reverend Preston Teagardin. The impressive cast is filled out by stellar actors including Harry Melling (Harry Potter), Bill Skarsgård (IT), and Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland).
When the film debuted in fall 2020, audiences craved comfort and there was little appetite for bleak stories. As such, The Devil All The Time received somewhat mixed reviews. It earned a lukewarm 65% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes, but a solid 79% audience score. Some reviewers dinged the film for being gratuitously dark and violent. However, The Devil All The Time harkens to gritty noir-adjacent thrillers such as Prisoners and No Country For Old Men.
Before Holland and Pattinson were drawing critical attention in The Odyssey, they were stealing scenes in The Devil All The Time. Director Campos’s 2020 thriller was Holland’s first experience anchoring a straight drama/thriller, having broken into Hollywood as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. In his grittiest role to date, Holland’s signature righteous loyalty twisted into violence. Showcasing a rare dark-side to Holland's versatility, The Devil All The Time is one of the actor's best movie performances of all time.
Pattinson, who is ten years Holland's senior, is a bit further into his career. As such, the actor has a laundry list of impressive film credits. It is difficult to top performances such as The Batman, Good Time, and The Lighthouse. Still, Pattinson shines in a rare antagonist role. It is difficult to make a central villain stand out among the cast of morally complicated characters in The Devil All The Time. However, Pattinson deftly depicts Reverend Teagardin as a uniquely loathsome monster who still displays human frailty.
Cinematic magic truly occurs when Holland and Pattinson share the screen—despite a somewhat distracting accent from Pattinson. In a climactic confrontation between Arvin and the Reverend, Holland holds his ground and Pattinson squirms. The gripping scene is an early look at the effective dynamic Holland and Pattinson share in The Odyssey.
The Devil All The Time Blends Prisoners With No Country For Old Men & There Will Be Blood
The Devil All The Time has narrative, tonal, and stylistic similarities to the iconic crime thrillers, Prisoners and No Country For Old Men. It features the bleak hyper-violence of those films, following an ensemble of damaged characters interacting in a broken system.
Like Prisoners, The Devil All The Time features a family tragedy that pushes characters to seek moral retribution outside the law. Just as Keller Dover's (Hugh Jackman) maddening need to find his daughter pushed him to take the investigation into his own hands, Arvin's (Holland) need to avenge his stepsister drives him to seek his own form of justice.
The Devil All The Time sets the traditional crime-thriller antics of movies like Prisoners in the old-south. Much like the Coen Brother's No Country For Old Men, Campos’s thriller depicts a lawless South ruled by senseless violence. Forces meant to provide justice and security—law and religion—are of no consequence in these films. In the Coens' southern thriller, law enforcement cannot keep up with modern immorality and is rendered ineffective. In The Devil All The Time, these systems have fallen under human corruption, becoming perpetuators of injustice.
The Devil All The Time draws clear inspiration from the crime-thrillers that came before it. While not as highly rated as its predecessors, it is a competent entry into the sub-genre. Particularly considering Pattinson and Holland's striking performances, this underrated Netflix thriller deserves another look.
English (US) ·