New Before The Devil Knows You're Dead reviews

Before The Devil Knows You're Dead details

Formats:	15 DVD, Blu-ray
Starring:	Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, Marisa Tomei, Rosemary Harris, Aleksa Palladino, Michael Shannon, Amy Ryan
Director:	Sidney Lumet
Genres:	Drama - Family, Thriller - Action/Adventure
Studio:	ENTERTAINMENT IN VIDEO RENTAL

Name	Discs
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead	15 Feature

DVD Information

Run time:	1 hour 57 minutes
Rental release:	05 May 2008
Main languages:	English

Name	Discs
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead	15 Feature

Blu-ray Information

Run time:	1 hour 57 minutes
Rental release:	05 May 2008
Main languages:	English

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LOVEFiLM Review Before The Devil Knows You're Dead

By Tom Charity from LOVEFiLM

A brothers' conspiracy falls apart in Sidney Lumet's latest drama...
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Most helpful review Before The Devil Knows You're Dead

were the critics paid to like this one!

By a customer from London , 01 Apr 2008

[Highly rated reviewer]

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.
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Definitely Worth Watching

By 5ft7offootballheaven (300 reviews) from London , 30 Nov 2011

Its good but not a comfortable ride and I can sympathise to some degree with some of the reviews but its a thin line often between good / bad - i guess expectation has a lot to do with it.

There is a disturbance about this story, a malevolence that pervades it - it pushes a lot of wrong buttons a lot of the time and it will test you a bit as a viewer because normally the boundaries are more clearly laid out for you with regard to whom you should attach your allegiance - not so here.

I think its well constructed but I was pained a little by the flashback method - too many and my heart sank a little when it started doing that. I prefer stories that evolve rather than explain how we got to the start point.....anyway...superb cast - well acted....Marisa Tomei - wow.
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101 on how to ruin a story with potential

By NPatel (7 reviews) , 30 Nov 2011

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS Show review anywayHide

This film could have been so much better than it was!!! Its about two brothers who hatch a plan to rob a jewelry store that's owned by their parents! Things go wrong, as you find out in the first scene, and their mum gets shot. The rest of the film is pretty much the filing in why they would do it and the family issues they have. The film tries telling the story of each person by flip-flopping in time in other characters POV. The problem is that a lot of the time the back-story is mundane and doesn't really have enough substance to justify going back so far. It was frustrating at times and the really very boring but there were parts of the film I enjoyed and overall the story was good. Not one that I would watch twice and would only recommend for those who are running out of films to watch!
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Why the devil don't people like it?

By Nitaray (222 reviews) from Farnham , 22 Nov 2011

This is a beautifully crafted movie with fine acting, an intriguing story, and a subtle, clever soundtrack. Sidney Lumet makes good movies and this is one of his best.

P.S Hoffman plays rather a different kind of role this time, which makes for interesting viewing, and the gorgeous Marisa Tomei plays his wife. Their one love scene, which opens the film, is one of the most realistic I have ever seen and full marks here to the director and actors for that.

The story is unusual, a crime based drama about two brothers - P.S.H and Ethan Hawke - who hatch a devious plan to rob their parent's jewellery store, thereby solving all their financia and drug problems. When everything goes horribly wrong, you knew it was going to happen; but it's so well done and so well thought through that it comes as a shock.

Albert Finney plays their father and turns in a remarkably understated but powerful performance. And there are fine performances throughout.

It's hard to believe that some people wouldn't enjoy this film, but from the reviews I have read, that seems to be the case. I thought it was one of the best films I've seen in ages.
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Highly recommended!

By emabee (12 reviews) , 13 Nov 2011

I wasnt expecting much from this film as it only had 3 stars but I liked the sound of the description. I worried that the first few minutes of the film had confirmed this but I was very wrong. I really enjoyed this film, so much better than I expected, not sure why it only has 3 stars. A few twists and turns along the way and some great acting. Definitely worth a watch.
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Effective and gripping

By a customer , 15 Oct 2011

Sidney Lumet's highly efficient direction of a plot with suspenseful twists and turns,and excellent performances from Hoffman and Hawke as the two brothers who are tangled deeper and deeper into crime. Another reviewer referred to Finney 'over-acting' but we thought he was convincing in the role of father. Not a trick was missed in this first-rate thriller.
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