If you live in a world of thieves and murderers, most of the people you meet are pretty unsavory. So imagine being trapped in a safe house with three of them while you wait out a heist gone wrong. That’s where we find our protagonists in Barnaby Roper’s new film All the Devils Are Here. Borrowing its title from Shakespeare’sThe Tempest, All the Devils Are Here is a mostly entertaining British crime drama with a stacked cast. However, its conclusion holds it back from more acclaim.
A London crime boss named Mr. Reynolds recruits four criminals for a bank heist: Ronnie (Eddie Marsan, Vesper), Grady (Sam Claflin, Enola Holmes), Royce (Tienne Simon), and Numbers (Burn Gorman, Watcher). Ronnie is eager to retire from crime and reunite with his estranged daughter. Royce is a young upstart looking to make a name for himself. Numbers is too deep into his drug addiction to care about any of them. Grady, on the other hand, is a psychopath who’s only out for himself. After completing the heist, Mr. Reynolds instructs the group to lay low for a week until the heat dies down. However, as days go by with no word from the boss, the men slowly begin to turn on each other.
After the opening heist, the rest of All the Devils Are Here takes place in a countryside safe house. It’s drawing on classic isolation thrillers like The Thing and Reservoir Dogs without being as clever. The first hour shows the four making the most of their boredom, with small disagreements escalating over time. When tensions finally boil over, it is satisfying to watch, but I was just reminded of better films. Marsan has easily the most compelling performance of the film, adding a layer of warmth and gravitas to his career criminal. Claflin gets to play against type as a villain, but you can guess most of the problems he’s going to cause before they happen.
Had All the Devils Are Here ended at around the eighty-minute mark, it would have been a solid single-location crime thriller. But then Roper undercuts that in the last five minutes with a twist ending that’s trying too hard to be cute. It cheapens the previous eighty minutes with a Twilight Zone-style “a-ha” moment. Despite strong performances from its leads, All the Devils Are Here is a misfire that could have been so much better.
George W. Campbell
George W. Campbell is a director/screenwriter/editor from Bowie, Maryland, whose films focus on themes of family and personal relationships. As a Nicaraguan-American filmmaker, he aims to highlight specific parts of his culture and personal experiences (songs, dances, foods, and language).