Directed by : Antonio Campos

Some people were born just so they could be buried.


Spoilers ahead.. 

Set in Ohio and West Virginia spanning over 20 years, the story revolves around many families, there's Willard Russell (Bill Skarsgard) who returned from his military exercise after end of World War II but is haunted by a crucified marine he killed. Willard meets Charlotte (Haley Bennett) at a diner and falls in love with her, they eventually get married as story moves to their son Arvin (Tom Holland) in mid 1960s when he's grown up and has similar traits of his father. There's Carl (Jason Clarke) and Sandy (Riley Keough) who also meet at the same diner, and in future years become the deadly husband-wife combo of psychopaths. There's Roy Laferty (Henry Melling) who believes God is testing him leading him to experiment something on his wife Helen Hatton (Mia Wasikowska). And then there's Lenora (Eliza Scanlen), daughter of Roy and Helen, who also falls for a preacher, Reverend Preston Teagardin (Robert Pattinson). Lastly, there's Deputy Lee Bodecker (Sebastian Stan), brother of Sandy, who desires to win the future elections making him want to keep a good image even at expense of getting corrupt. 

A great ensemble cast as always brings the issues of characters not getting enough screentime, had same issue here with only Willard and Arvin ending out to be the ones that appealed most to me. The non-linear narration is done very much in the 'Pulp Fiction' manner which at times I felt didn't work, because unlike Tarantino movie, this one aint dark comedy, rather its a dark drama. 

What I enjoyed was the various themes played out, one was Luck. We see Willard and Charlotte meet only because Carl gave his seat at the  diner which in return makes him meet Sandy, had this not happened maybe their lives would had turned differently. Or when both Roy and Arvin during their times end up taking a lift from Carl and Sandy, like their fate was decided. Or how Arvin's fate was actually decided by Carl who had replaced Sandy's pistol with blanks citing she may betray him which in return ends up for her death rather than Arvin's. Also, how that german 'Luger' Willard brings and gives to his Uncle only to end up in hands of grown up Arvin at his 17th birthday which he uses to kill people who had wronged his sister and later some other people when left with no choice.

Almost every character (male specially) commits sins in the story and also gets appropriately punished for it. Both preachers stories felt very hurried to me, specially Robert Pattinson character didn't work at all. Bill Skarsgard and Tom Holland are excellent, love the tension filled scene when Arvin realizes who Carl-Sandy are and his life is in danger. Also, I like how they end the movie, almost a suggestion that Arvin's life would go totally his dad's way, it maybe a non-ending cycle. Something of that we see in Helen and Lenora's stories, both get killed in different decades due to their love for preachers who weren't what they looked like to be. 

The Devil All The Time is a decent watch, but I feel it needed to be a 7-8 episode series rather to be lot more engaging and let all characters have their due which the film fails at as I ended up craving for much more than what I got. 

My Rating : 6/10