My Rank : *** (Nice Story)Tak butuh alasan lain untuk menonton film ini, kecuali bahwa ada nama M Night Shyamalan di posternya. Pasti banyak yang tak setuju dengan pernyataan itu, tapi sejak 'Sixth Sense' kita memang seperti "dikutuk" untuk selalu menunggu karya terbaru sutradara berdarah India itu. Kadang kita sedikit kecewa, misalnya pada 'The Village' atau 'The Happening', dan terutama pada 'The Last Airbender' yang berbiaya raksasa itu. Tapi, siapa yang bisa benar-benar kapok menonton karya-karya sineas yang telah melahirkan 'Signs' dan 'Lady in the Water' itu?
'Devil' sebenarnya bukan karya Shyamalan. Mungkin lebih tepat jika dikatakan bahwa film ini adalah proyek Shyamalan. Dia tidak menulis naskahnya maupun menyutradarainya. Di poster ditulis "from the mind of M Night Shyamalan". Jadi, ceritanya ini adalah film pertama dari proyek 'Night Chronicles' yang direncanakan sebagai trilogi, dan diproduseri oleh sutradara 'Unbreakable' itu.
Dikerjakan oleh sutradara John Erick Dowdle berdasarkan naskah yang ditulis oleh Brian Nelson, 'Devil' tampil layaknya film-film Shyamalan yang dibuka dengan fenomena ganjil. Seorang pekerja di sebuah gedung tinggi bunuh diri dengan melompat dari kantornya. Ketika polisi sedang menyelidiki kasus itu, di gedung yang sama lima orang tengah terjebak dalam lift. Kedua peristiwa itu dihubungkan dengan selembar kertas yang ditinggalkan oleh orang yang bunuh diri tadi. Dia mengaku mendengar langkah iblis mendekat.
Iblis jugalah yang diyakini menjebak sekelompok orang di lift itu. Setidaknya, itulah keyakinan salah satu petugas monitor lift. Dengan unik, film ini berjalan dari sudut pandang petugas pengawas monitor lift itu. Dia seorang relijius yang menuturkan cerita ibunya tentang bagaimana iblis bekerja dalam kehidupan manusia.
Dengan durasi yang relatif pendek, 70 menit saja, film ini menampilkan drama misteri dalam lift yang melibatkan lima orang, yang sedang bertamu di sebuah gedung. Berkali-kali kamera menampilkan gambar yang membuat kita memikirkan kembali lingkungan tempat kita beraktivitas sehari-hari: gedung tinggi berdinding kaca, berlobi luas dengan petugas pencatat setiap orang yang datang, penghuni gedung menunjukkan ID dan tamu harap menuliskan namanya di buku.
Macam-macam orang datang dan pergi tiap hari, satu lift dengan kita, dengan berbagai urusan yang tak pernah kita bayangkan. Dari fakta orang terjebak dalam lift, film berkembang menjadi drama yang kompleks ketika polisi mulai meneliti siapa orang-orang itu lewat buku tamu, apa keperluannya datang ke gedung itu dan seterusnya. Bersamaan dengan itu, suasana di dalam kotak lift semakin memanas. Lampu berkali-kali mati, dan ketika kembali menyala, satu orang sudah terbunuh.
Orang-orang pun jadi saling curiga, dan terjadilah pertengkaran sengit. Sementara, petugas monitor yang relijius melihat penampakan muka setan di dalam lift melalui layar komputer, tapi bagaimana meyakinkan itu kepada rekan kerjanya, juga kepada polisi, orang-orang yang rasional itu? Merujuk pada cerita ibunya tentang ibis, dia yakin salah satu dari orang yang terjebak di lift itu adalah iblis. Tapi, siapa? Yang mana?
Fim ini menghibur dan menyenangkan dengan cara membuat penontonnya berkali terhenyak, menjerit dan menutup muka. Bagi penggemar film-film jenis ini, 'Devil' memberikan sensasi ketegangan yang maksimal. Pesan moralnya, perhatikan oran-orang asing yang setiap pagi berada satu lift denganmu. Ingat, salah satu di antara mereka adalah (jelmaan) iblis. Berdoalah.
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The film begins with a person committing suicide by jumping from a building narrated by Ramirez (Jacob Vargas) who mentions that his mother tells him stories of the Devil roaming the earth, and it always begins with a suicide. Detective Bowden (Chris Messina) is called to the scene to aid in the investigation. Bowden is a recovering alcoholic devastated by the death of his wife and child in a hit-and-run accident by a driver who was never caught. As this is happening, five strangers, who have committed various crimes in the past, step onto an elevator located within the same building where the suicide has taken place.
The five strangers include Ben (Bokeem Woodbine), a temp security guard with a violent past; an elderly woman (Jenny O'Hara) who is a compulsive thief; Vince (Geoffrey Arend), a mattress salesman who moonlights as a con artist; Tony (Logan Marshall-Green), a former mechanic who served in the U.S. military during the War in Afghanistan who is now seeking employment within the building; and Sarah (Bojana Novakovic), a greed encompassed heiress meeting with her lawyer in the building.
Strange things start to occur beginning with the elevator becoming stuck between floors. Then, after the lights go out, Sarah is inexplicably wounded on her back. The remaining occupants of the elevator quickly begin to suspect Vince of having committed the assault. Slowly, one by one, the five strangers start to die. First, Vince is killed by a shard of glass from a mirror which slices his jugular vein. Detective Bowden, sensing a connection between this and the man who earlier committed suicide in the same building, is compelled to further investigate. Checking the building's guest log, Bowden finds that only four people have missed their scheduled appointments that day: Sarah, Vince, Ben, and Janecowski. The investigators misinterpret the latter as Jane Cowski and assume this is the old womans name, leaving Bowden suspicious of Tony who appears to be the only undocumented occupant.
With the help of the buildings security team, Bowden examines security footage and discovers that the old woman had stolen a wallet prior to entering the elevator. The office building's repairman is sent down the elevator shaft to fix it, but plummets to his death. During a power outage, the old woman is found hanging by the neck from an electrical cord and presumed dead. Sarah and Ben turn on Tony, while Bowden begins to suspect that Sarah's husband has hired Ben to kill her. A security guard inspects the basement and electrocutes himself attempting to secure a hot fallen wire. The lights go out again and Ben is dead with his neck completely twisted around. Each thinking the other must be responsible for the murders, Tony and Sarah prepare to fight each other with broken glass, but Bowden seemingly manages to calm them. As Sarah prepares to take out a shard of glass hidden in her back pocket, the lights once again go out and her throat is slashed. The mystery seems solved, when a tattooed woman arrives and informs Bowden that Tony is her fiance, and was at the building for a job interview. Only then is his full name revealed to be Tony Janecowski.
The old woman suddenly rises and appears behind Tony. It is now apparent that she is the Devil who has taken a human form. Having dispensed of the others, The Devil tells Tony its his turn to die. Detective Bowden watches through the CCTV as Tony confesses to killing two people in a drunken hit-and-run accident. Tony had been trying to grab another beer while driving and had not seen where was going. Tony says "I'm so sorry." and Bowden had a car wash coupon that says "I'm so sorry" on the back. At which point the Devil is forced to spare him (as he confessed his sin and apologized for it) and disappears as the firemen finish breaking into the elevator. Detective Bowden realizes Tony is the one who killed his wife and son, but expresses his forgiveness en route to the police station following his arrest.
The film ends with Ramirez telling the audience that his mother always reassured him at the end of her stories, "If the Devil is real, God must also be real."
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