March 30, 1997 -- "The Devil's Own" is a thoroughly pedestrian look into the world of cops and terrorism starring two of the most popular actors in film.

Harrison Ford stars as Tom O'Meara, an honest cop who takes in a young lad from Ireland, Rory Devaney (Brad Pitt), who just happens to be an IRA terrorist. We find out that Devaney was emotionally scarred as an eight-year-old when he witnessed his father's murder at the hands of the Protestants.

Devaney is locked into the seemingly endless struggle for Irish independence, while O'Meara is dedicated to his ideals. When he covers up for a fellow cop who shot an unarmed man in the back it makes him physically ill.

Devaney is in the U.S. working on a scheme to move Stinger missiles by boat from the U.S. to Ireland. He plans to buy the missiles from a tough arms dealer, Billy Burkes (Treat Williams), but the deal goes sour.

O'Meara gets caught in the crossfire when Burkes sends his goons to get the money for the missiles and he goes after Devaney. The two men could have been good friends except for their circumstances.

The actors are fine, but the plot is too slow-paced. I found myself looking at my watch to see how much longer this film was going to drag on before it got to a conclusion. It needed either more action or more character development. It seemed as if it could have gotten where it was going about a half hour faster than it did.

Also, there was little suspense in the film, since you know who is expendable and who is not. It is pretty obvious where the film is headed at all times. It is strictly by the numbers and no surprises. This film rates a C.

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Copyright © 1997 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.