Devil's Knot

The movie doesn’t grab you emotionally, but director Atom Egoyan (Exotica) teases apart the case’s details with grim fascination.

While the film is not nearly as evocative as Egoyan's 1997 masterpiece "The Sweet Hereafter" (also about children who died tragically), it is still an intrinsically fascinating story.

The writer-director has the talent to dig deep and lay bare the assumptions behind our idea of justice and our notions of right and wrong. In The Devil's Knot, he settles for an encyclopedic, if skin-deep, presentation.

What’s most frustrating about Devil’s Knot—especially for longtime Egoyan fans—is how generic the movie becomes every time it folds another wrinkle into the case.

Egoyan, who has never shied away from the lurid aspects of lost innocence, takes a measured approach that successfully avoids sensationalism. But the film's restraint verges on blankness.

Atom Egoyan is a much better director when he drops the art-film fanciness and wrestles directly with his inner voyeuristic weirdo.

It reduces a complex and extraordinary case to soap. It makes you care less, for all its heavy-breathing and cheapo coaxing.

I understand why this film did not vastly, positively recognized, even though it was taken straight from a really cruel incident. Some viewers mind only the commercial value, forget that one because they're living a useless and careless life about society. And the other reason is there is nothing wrong in performance, direction or in any technical aspect, but the story itself do not fit to be a movie. It should have been documentary instead. Coincidentally, this movie was similar to the 2011 Koren movie 'Children...' which was also based on the true event. About children who go missing. Both the events took place in the early 90s. This silver screen movie looks a lot like television broadcastable item that it should be. There is a documentary trilogy inspired from this story. The motive was to bring the truth out and it was well received according to ratings and reviews. And don't forget the books. ‘‘My son is 8-year-old. He sleeps with a night light on, he did not run away from home.’’ A movie must have (1) a story to begin with, (2) characters that develop along the story and (3) finally a conclusion whether twist in it or not, happy or sad, either way it works. So what's wrong with it? Well, it lacks in development in either of above first two points and extents throughout without nothing while we are expecting a glimpse of something to happen. The fact is, no one knows what really happened, actually those who know are tight lipped because of involvement. I just can't conclude my judgement because of this movie, but give a fair point for anyone who are not familiar with this case. Not focused on a particular character, the most of the perspective in the storytelling was Colin Firth's role which was just an appearance to show I'm there but not in action. You have a couple of choices to rate this movie, one, based on the story which is real and cruel, and another is the movie that disappoints as a movie. Like I am always quite happy with the product like this, because I got to know what I supposed to learn about this 'West Memphis Three' case. Hope the new movie do convey well to the cinematic output.

Devil's Knot tells a compelling story, but the movie is bogged down by storyline cliches, poor pacing, and being overlong. It's a shame that Witherspoon and Firth didn't have more scenes together, as their characters are what makes the movie interesting.

Reese Witherspoon really tries to turn this over dramatised film into something to take serious, unfortunately with the many great documentaries this story has this film falls short. C

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

What an astoundingly bad movie. What a waste of a cast. What an opportunity missed to take a genuinely compelling case and turn the spotlight on an appalling miscarriage of justice. Ok, so there's been numerous documentaries about the West Memphis Three, good ones in fact, but this was a story ripe for the telling. It's a murder-mystery for Christ's sake -- any half-competent director could nail this. Instead he forces us to sit through the LEAST interesting parts of the story. Anyone who's familiar with the case knows that it's what unfolded AFTER the trial that constitutes the most fascinating part of this terrible tragedy. There are parallels here that can be drawn to Fincher's ZODIAC, another story of murder that became a tangled web of conspiracy, but Fincher knew how to structure his film. Devil's Knot should never have been a court room procedural. What's most telling about this film is that a good two thirds of the most interesting, compelling parts of the story (the subsequent revelations after the trial) are told in brief text flashed up on screen just before the credits. Woeful choices. Just woeful. Colin Firth, god love him, sticks out like a sore thumb. He mopes around, and his character has zero purpose other than to quietly simmer in moral outrage. Reese Witherspoon plays the mother of one of the children -- that's it, that's the extent of the character. She mourns her son, and that's all she gets to do. Again, just a waste of talent. Avoid it like the plague, and go and watch West Memphis Three.