The Devil All The Time (2020) Movie Review: Dark, I mean really D A R K.

Premise: The Devil All The Time (2020) is a series of stories set from 1945 to 1965. The movie begins with Willard Russell (Bill Skarsgard), who served in World War Two. On his way to returning home, he meets and falls in love with Charlotte (Haley Bennett), a waitress in a cafe. And later, they heartily ended up marrying each other. Sandy Henderson (Riley Keough), a waitress working at the same diner as Charlotte, falls in love with a photographer Carl Henderson (Jason Clarke). Lee Bodecker (Sebastian Stan), a police officer, fortifies his position in town by wrongdoings.

After 9 Years of a happy marriage, Charlotte is diagnosed with cancer. Willard, with his newfound faith, consumed by praying to god for her recovery. Meanwhile, serial killers Sandy and Carl beset with taking pictures of nude corpses.

In 1965, Arvin Russell (Tom Holland), son of Willard and Charlotte, is eighteen years old, living with his grandmother and uncle. He is so protective of his half-sister Lenora Laferty (Eliza Scanlen). One day Preston Teagardin (Robert Pattinson) an awful preacher assigned to the town.

Review: The central theme of the movie is too much blind faith can be dangerous. In all these stories, there are two kinds of people, one is a kind people, doing crazy insane or foolish things in their unquestioning belief. Second is people who do horrible crimes in the name of god. There is always something gripping going around every 15 minutes of the movie that impacts the story. With so much going on in the movie and covering many characters, narration in the film is really helpful. It gets us in these multiples stories and their personalities; without that audience could easily be lost. Donald Ray Pollock, who did the narration, is also a writer of the novel The Devil All The Time, which this movie adapted. The production design, the cinematography is decent. Jake Gyllenhaal (king of darker roles) produced this movie.

Refreshing to see Tom Holland in a darker role, and did a great job with his accent, more resounding performance. Robert Pattinson is escalating with his performance in the last two years, The Lighthouse (2019), Tenet (2020), and once again gave a distinct performance. Tom Holland and Pattinson both also co-started in The Lost City Of Z (2016). They both came a long way. Bill Skarsgard is playing a character as a loving husband and soldier with PTSD given an extraordinary performance, Riley Keough has shown tremendous performance in her role as a serial killer, poisonous beauty. Strong acting by the entire cast.

Warning, there are some violent, frightening scenes in the movie, there is one particular scene where Willard kills……. I wish I didn’t see that

Cons: With its lot of story comprising in 130 minutes, The Devil All The Time feels like an overcrowded mess, making characters shallow and uninteresting. It could be better as a mini-series. And there is no room to breathe because of its constant violence. It may turn down some audience.

Conclusion: The Devil All the time (2020) is a gothic thriller, tells the story of evil and the danger of twisted faith. With all multiple storylines, it lacks depth and meaning, but enjoyable for some degree. Tom Holland, Pattinson shined with their newfangled roles. Riveting performance by everyone. My rating is 6.5/10.

Director: Antonio Campos
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Cast: Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Bill Skarsgard, Sebastian Stan, Riley Keough, Jason Clarke