13 Brilliant Plot Twists That Couldn't Quite Save Terrible Movies

13. The Devil's Advocate - Al Pacino's Satan Will Never Stop

The Twist: After lawyer Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves) sells his soul to win a court case, he quickly finds himself working for John Milton (Al Pacino) at a massive New York firm. With Lomax slowly falling into despair, Milton reveals himself to be Satan, his father, who wants him to conceive the anti-Christ. 

When Lomax refuses and kills himself, he finds himself back in the original courtroom, choosing instead to step away from the case. Thinking his ordeal is over, Milton re-appears as a reporter, apparently never going to stop tormenting Lomax until he decides to obey him.

Why It Almost Saved The Movie: The twist is emblematic of why the film failed as a whole. Its over-the-top bombast overshadowed the more subtle, but interesting message underneath. For example, Pacino delivers the twist by turning right to the audience and proclaiming, “Vanity, definitely my favourite sin.” 

In doing this, we focus more on the fact that he’s speaking to us instead of the more interesting notion that he will keep coming after Lomax over and over again. It’s entirely possible that Milton’s done this before but the movie isn’t smart enough to place a focus on that.