Al Pacino's John Milton: The Most Frightening Fictional Devil?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD6LZwo3kVI

Al Pacino as “John Milton” (Satan) in Devil’s Advocate is the extreme personification of the temptations we all face to some degree – an offering that is alluring, beautiful and satisfying – until it isn’t.  It’s that sudden turn that is so terrifying.  Like Odysseus in his encounter with the Sirens, we have two choices if we are to avoid destruction: We can, like his men, avoid the temptation altogether (they put beeswax in their ears) or we can place upon ourselves prior restraints, as Odysseus did by ordering his men to tie him to the mast, and thus cheat the fates.  The first choice is the safest, but the second leaves us stronger by the struggle – IF we can pull it off.