Before The Devil Knows You're Dead Reviews

were the critics paid to like this one!

This is bad bad bad. Everyone in it is an idiot and you don't care one bit about a single person in the film. Look for something else, I think you will be glad.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Andy (Hoffman) has serious money troubles, as does his brother Hank (Hawke). To solve their woes Andy proposes that they rob a jewellery store owned by their father (Finney) and mother, reasoning that their parents will be taken care of by the insurance and that nobody will be hurt. The heist goes badly wrong and the whole family’s lives begin to unravel as a result.

Everyone thought that Sidney Lumet’s career was pretty much done and dusted, that’s when you win an honorary Oscar. However the director of, among others, 12 Angry Men, Serpico and Network has, at 83, made his most vital and engaging film in years.

With it’s whipcracking pace, it’s non-linear narrative and it’s crisp dialogue Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead feels like the work of a young, hungry filmmaker, somebody setting out his stall rather than winding down a legendary career.

Lumet draws excellent work from his entire cast. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is a flat out brilliant actor, with every role he transforms, he’s as close to a peak form DeNiro as anyone working right now. Here he’s excellent, unafraid to be completely loathsome as a man whose moral high point as a character is when he suggests stealing from his own parents. Hoffman is never overblown; instead his best work lies in detail, in quiet conviction, by which he vanishes into his character. There’s also a real originality to his choices. How many times have you seen that scene where a man smashes up his home after his wife leaves him? Here Hoffman makes that chestnut feel new by doing it with such methodical, almost clinical, slowness that rather than a cliché it becomes one of the key character scenes.

Good as he is Hoffman doesn’t overshadow the rest of the cast. Especially good is the underrated Ethan Hawke, whose performance as Hank shows, just as much as his work in Before Sunset or Training Day, that he’s got a real talent for building people who feel real. Marisa Tomei has little to do for the first half of the film other than show of her (admittedly magnificent) breasts, but during the second half of the film she offers strong support, particularly in the scene where she tells Hoffman she’s leaving him. Finally there’s Albert Finney, he’s got the most extreme character arc, and he plays it brilliantly, taking you along as Charles descends into hell, each step absolutely credible as the film inches towards its shocking ending.

It’s amazing to think that this is screenwriter Kelly Masterson’s first produced work, it crackles with great dialogue (particularly in a backyard conversation between Hoffman and Finney) and the plot constantly turns in ways you don’t quite expect. Here’s hoping that Masterson has more screenplays of this sort of quality in him.

But kudos must really go to Lumet, he marshals all the elements brilliantly, never letting the interest flag and always making the film look fantastic. This is vivid, punchy, and high quality cinema, a great late entry in a great filmography.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Disappointing

Don't be duped by the excellent reviews. This film is a bit of a stinker. If you like classy thrillers like Out of Sight or Seven then avoid this - you will be disappointed.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Disturbing and engaging tale of plunging morals,

This film is about two brothers robbing a jewellery store. However, their plan goes desperately wrong, leaving them with unimaginably horrifying consequences.

Initially I found 'Before the Devil Knows You're Dead' slow and difficult to understand due to the non linear plot. Things quickly picked up, and I was captivated by the film.

Ethan Hawke delivers a strong and convincing performance, especially his paranoia, guilt and anxiety while being on the run. Philip Seymour Hoffman on the other hand, is chilling as his morals cascade to new lows with every segment of the film.

The characters are very well portrayed and developed. I felt connected to the characters and cared for them. As the story progressed, I felt very sorry for the two brothers as their lives spiral out of control. The ending is very disturbing and sad. It makes me wonder what price people are willing to pay to get the justice they want.

'Before the Devil Knows You're Dead' is a powerful and yet disturbing film. It is well executed, told and acted. In fact I like it better than a few of this year's Oscar nominated films I saw.

What????

How on earth can 27 people vote a review as 'useful', when all it says is that the reviewer was too busy and hasn't actually watched the film they're reviewing?! I can only assume that 27 particularly slow chimps have been let loose on a computer and just happened to find this website, this film and click the 'yes' button.

* * * This review contains spoilers * * *ShowHide

'Before The Devil Knows You're Dead'

One of Sydney Lumet's more recent offerings, a bizzare tale of two brothers Andy (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and Hank (Ethan Hawke) who are both down on their luck and in financial and social difficulties for a variety of reasons, so decide to rob their parents Jewellery store with a third party accomplice in the hope they can get away with the loot and their parents Charles (Albert Finney ) and Nanette (Rosemary Harris) will be none the wiser, and be able to claim the insurance money.

However as usual with these supposedly simple scenario's the plan goes horribly wrong and the awful aftermath sends shock waves through all those involved , with tragedy waiting like the grim reaper as the ripples of this despicable deed spread and change everyone's lives forever. It's slow paced and very Coen Brothers in style I felt , a story that is not new but in the right hands,and with the right cast it's just so stylish to look at and very watchable.

A dense, fragmented , intense plot that toggles back and forth between the days before and after the robbery, Lumet's direction is consistently good as you'd expect, with some great natural lighting , a strong soundtrack ,and a perfectly pitched downbeat script. However it's the perfomances that hold this one together with Hoffman and Finney in particular shining, but with the dynamics between all the actors including Hawke and Marisa Tomei who plays Gina Andy's long suffering partner just wonderful to watch. Not for everyone, but worked for me , and a real treat to find something this well made that didn't attract a massive amount of attention on release.

A morality tale that packs a real punch. Well worth winkling out.

[Highly rated reviewer]

before the devil knows your dead

didnt like this film at all it

Toooo Much!!!!!

If You Like To Two People bonkin' At The Start Of A Movie, This Is For You. But Personally I Don't,So I Will Never Know What Happened Or Care ,Because for me Seing people having sex Right At The Begining Of A Film Does Not Do It For Me.In Fact It's Quite A Turn Off, Which Is Exactly What I Did.!!

OMG I'm so bored!

Honestly how can people rate this so high? I picked it as it had a good star rating, I will now ignore ratings to save me wasting 2 hours of my life.

So you see the middle of the story, the robbery, at the start of the movie. Then through boring flashbacks you get to see how it all leads up to this. All this time I'm just wondering what happened after the robbery, I don't care how they got there as the flashbacks are so painful slow. Watching someone stroll around a flat, get a drink, take off his tie.... could they pad it out any more?

I forced myself to watch it to the end to find out what happens in the end. My hopes of a twist or a shock at the end were wasted.

Before the Devil Knows Your dead

Rubbish - Very slow with flashbacks all the time which ruined the whole thing.