Keanu Reeves: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

5 Awesome Performances...

5. Kevin Lomax - The Devil's Advocate (1997)

While Reeves is often positioned as a leading man, much of his best work comes in supporting or ensemble piece; you could even argue that The Matrix is an ensemble piece until its heroic final act. We begin with a film in which he manages to hold his own against one of the biggest actors of our age, in a neat little thriller from Taylor Hackford, director of An Officer And A Gentlemen. Based upon Andrew Lieberman's novel of the same name, The Devil's Advocate stars Reeves as Kevin Lomax, a brilliant defence lawyer who has never lost a case. Having successfully defended a teacher on a charge of child molestation, he is approached to join the swanky New York law firm Milton, Chadwick & Waters. As Kevin wins them case after case and makes a lot of money in the process, things turn increasingly sinister, particularly around the identity of Milton himself... The Devil's Advocate is a good, solid Faustian tale, doing for upmarket courtroom dramas what Angel Heart did for private detective stories. While it's largely Al Pacino's film, his wild, often outrageous performance would be ridiculous without a more temperate soul to balance it out. That is where Keanu comes in, constantly dialling it back and calmly stating his arguments and counter-arguments against Milton's schemes.