the idea at the center of the devil's advocate , which is , thus far , one of the three or four best films of 1997 , is that no matter what decision is made , evil will triumph -- god is a trickster , satan is a humanist -- " the last humanist " . 
he appears in many guises , and seduces many men and women -- in his own words , " vanity -- by far my favorite sin " . 
al pacino plays this role with relish , and gets to chew some delectable lines ( " lemme givya a piece o' inside wisdom on god . . . " , " i have a million names . . . " ) , as john milton -- the devil . 
the main idea -- that he can appear as anyone , in any form ( in this case , a buisness man ) , harkens mainly back to terry gilliam's the time bandits . 
but the film , is something else , something original . 
part of what makes it so very good , is that it never takes itself too seriously -- it dabbles with morality , vanity , death , and child abuse , but doesn't try to become any profound study of power . 
this is a marvelous confection -- cocky , funny , thought provoking . 
it is also entertaining . 
there is no way you could possibly predict the ending -- it pulls back upon itself , drawing purely out of the mind's eye . 
the final shot is more creative , more daring , more challenging , then anything in cinema since the white sock in the coen's fargo . 
the central themes are fascinating ( sometimes reminiscent of james' the turn of the screw , and oates' accursed inhabitants of the house of bly ) , and the product that is built around it really wows . 
its nice to know that things like this are still being made .