Take a little bit of The Place Beyond the Pines, a lot of Natural Born Killers, and a hint of Frailty and you've essentially got Antonio Campos' latest, The Devil All the Time.

This is a film that I have many thoughts on. I am honestly quite mixed on the film overall and found parts of it to be pretty bad if I'm being honest. That being said I did enjoy watching this film and I wanted to know where it was going. So let's break this one down.

Starting off with the good, of which there is a decent bit here. Tom Holland is fantastic, giving quite possibly his best performance to date and really showing his range as an actor. His character is by far the most developed in the film and is the one character I really did care about. Robert Pattinson also turns in solid work here, even if his accent ultimately didn't work for me. There's a confrontation scene between Holland and Pattinson that is riveting and the best scene in the film by far. Campos is really good at building tension, as well as creating a very atmospheric setting helped out by a strong soundtrack. The film can at times be an interesting commentary on radical faith, and at its best, it's pretty effective. But sadly, it really feels like the film just ditches what it had going for it in the third act.

And that leads me into the negatives, of which there are also a decent bit. The film is very much an ensemble piece, and it boasts a terrific and very talented cast. That being said, a lot of them feel very wasted, and the subplot with Riley Keough and Jason Clarke was downright bad, as well as Sebastian Stan's subplot that ties into theirs. That was the aspect of the film that really brought it down, and every time they went back to it I felt like I was watching a completely different film that was detached from the rest and sort of just abandons the themes of the main plot in exchange for pointless shock value. And sadly, that's the aspect of the film that is focused on the most in the third act, and that's where the film kind of lost me. I also hated the narration as it really took away from the emotion of certain scenes and just spoon-fed everything to the audience when it was there. The climax of the film builds some solid tension, and as a whole, I liked the ending, even if I certainly wanted more development, but I will it that it doesn't quite have the impact that it wanted to. The film can also feel very disted in its plot structure, which can be distracting.

But even with the huge issues that I had with the film, I did have a good time watching this one. I was never bored and the 138-minute runtime does go by fairly fast. It's just a bit disappointing considering what the film could have been if it had just scrapped that subplot and focused more on the main plot. I know it's adapting a novel, but when it comes to a film adaptation certain things are best left out. But when all is said and done, this was entertaining, and I would still recommend it if for nothing else than to form your own opinion on it.
GRADE: B-