Unbreakable director (and Last Airbender ruiner) M. Night Shyamalan has doomed the movie Devil by association. People even booed for the trailer featuring his name. But the Devil-in-an-elevator movie is more fun, and less contrived, than the Shyamalan name suggests.

The point of the story is that if there is a devil there is god. They both are at work bringing these people all together – the devil wants the souls of the sinners, and god wants them to redeem themselves. The drunk driver guy is the last to go and as the devil comes for him he confesses his sins and accepts his punishment. God accepts his repentance and so the Devil cannot take him.

The cop (who lost his faith) comes face to face with the man he’s hated and accepts god back into his heart by forgiving the man. Faith restored.

Devil is really only effective while you’re in the theater. Once you know the ending, you’ll never see it again. And even though it doesn’t provoke any sort of audience introspection, you will have fun for the hour and twenty minutes you’re in there. It’s engaging, but not challenging. Thrilling, but not scary. Plus there’s a twist that will probably surprise 50% of the audience. So you’ve got half a chance to get Shyamalaned again, if you miss that sort of thing.