Devil's Knot

DEVIL'S KNOT 

Director : Atom Egoyan

Year : 2014

Genre : Drama

Rating : **1/2

Based on the true story of the horrifying West Memphis Three murders of 1993, 'Devil's Knot' is a thought provoking, if not unremarkable biographical crime drama from director Atom Egoyan. Starring Academy Award winners Colin Firth and Reece Witherspoon as well as Alesandro Nivola, Dane DeHaan and Elias Koteas, 'Devil's Knot' recounts the controversial trials of a group of teenagers who are believed to have slaughtered three boys in a vicious satanic ritual as well as the efforts of a private investigator who is trying to prove that they did not commit the heinous crime after all.

Over the past decade or so, many documentaries and books have been made and written about the West Memphis Three murders. In fact if you switch on to any kind of crime channel these days, you are bound to get at least one programme a week retelling the horrible events that took place in Tennessee just over 20 years ago. However, because the story has been covered to such a degree in the media already, 'Devil's Knot' doesn't really provide anything new at all which ultimately begs the question, why was this made in the first place? It doesn't try to answer any of the unanswered conundrums about the case and despite it's best efforts to give us a more rounded portrayal of evil and how both the public and the media perceive it, Atom Egoyan doesn't really do much to open our minds or our hearts. To it's credit the acting is certainly good, with Reece Witherspoon giving a standout performance as one of the heartbroken mothers desperate for the truth. But while the cast are engaging enough (apart from a rather miscast Colin Firth), the direction by the usually great Egoyan and the screenplay written by Paul Harris Boardman and 'The Exorcism Of Emily Rose' director Scott Derrickson isn't particularly insightful or engrossing. 

There is plenty of haunting imagery throughout as well as some genuinely horrific scenes of mutilated corpses and bloodstained weaponry so caution is most certainly advised. But while these moments do give the picture a certain air of realistic terror, 'Devil's Knot' is constantly let down by it's generic storytelling and lackluster execution. It is clear in watching the picture what Egoyan's true intentions are in making 'Devil's Knot' and I certainly can see why someone would want to tell this tragic story in a cinematic way. But at nearly two hours long, it does end up becoming something of an endurance test for anybody who either knows anything about the infamous story or who has watched any of the documentaries made about the subject in the past.