 |  | | Before the Devil Knows You're Dead |
Review #565 of 365
Movie Review of Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) [R] 117 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $12.75
Where Viewed: AMC Westminster Promenade 24, Westminster, COStarz FilmCenter at the Tivoli, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 13 November 2007
Time: 6:45 pm
DVD Release Date: 15 April 2008 (click date to purchase or pre-order)
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
Soundtrack: order the CD below
Directed by: Sidney Lumet (Find Me Guilty)
Written by: Kelly Masterson (debut)
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Mission: Impossible III) • Ethan Hawke (Fast Food Nation) • Albert Finney (The Bourne Ultimatum) • Marisa Tomei (Wild Hogs) • Rosemary Harris (Spider-Man 3) • Aleksa Palladino (Find Me Guilty) • Michael Shannon (Bug) • Amy Ryan (Dan in Real Life) • Brian F. O'Byrne (No Reservations) • Blaine Horton (debut) • Arija Bareikis (No Reservations) • Leonardo Cimino (Made) • Lee Wilkof (Love Comes Lately)
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Click to read the spoiler points for Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Let's get a couple of things straight. First, Sidney Lumet has had an outstanding career as a director spanning 5 decades, and there are some people that will stand up brilliantly for his films regardless. Meanwhile, there is also a tendency among all of us, to overlook things in large scale projects that could have been better or which bring the project down for those that are not so invested in being fans of a particular director, architect, band, etc. As it turns out, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, has to fall into this category. You've really got to be a huge fan of either Mr. Lumet, one of the lead actors (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, or Marisa Tomei), or the writer Kelly Masterson, to love everything about this film.
"Theoretically, this should have been a great film. Amazing director, great actors, and a complex morality-based screenplay with shades of Greek tragedy. Unfortunately, when the Devil's involved, theory goes out the window, Chico."
And, hopefully, I don't need to state that this review is my opinion, but the film is too flawed and ultimately emotionally bankrupt to be considered as some have touted, the Best Film of the year. No way. Sorry. The devil is in the details, and the details in this film just never even come close to adding up even if one decides that that beginning is really the ending and that this detail alone, is really worth the whole film. There's actually no logical notion except that the beginning is really the ending. So while it feels wrong to be giving away the ending, actually the film begins at the end with Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) enjoying some hot and nearly porn star worthy intercourse with a women whom we learn later is his trophy wife, Gina (Marisa Tomei). He's so thrilled to be in Rio—the only place life has ever been good for them. And then the film backtracks to the past from the perspective of various characters each time giving away more and more of the details that led up to this 'spectacular' ending. One thing we learn is that there has been robbery. Of a jewelry store. Well, actually, we learn it wasn't a robbery. It was an attempted robbery. The cuts and direction and dialogue lead us down our first wrong path to sorting this out as Hank (Ethan Hawke), in disguise, pulls away from the bungled mess in which the robber gets shot and killed—not just killed, blown through the front door out onto the sidewalk by the little, old lady who opened the store. Flashbacks and alternate perspective will fill in details that the robbery was planned by two brothers, Hank and Andy (the same Andy mentioned previously) such that each could net $60K from the theft. Andy proposes it to be a victimless crime because no one gets hurt, and the insurance company pays off the shop owner. Such thinking is only the opening salvo in striking revelations about whom we will learn to be is an incredibly morally bankrupt individual capable of sustaining an elaborate drug habit, embezzlement, and ultimately numerous cold-blooded murders. Hank, the younger brother, is more of a bumbling sort of nice guy with half a conscience, but not enough of one to prevent him from getting on board with Andy's plan so that he might have a chance to get his ex-wife, Martha (Amy Ryan), off his back by paying his back-due child support and get his daughter the "Lion King" tickets she so vehemently suggests she needs as a matter of life or death. Albert Finney plays their father, Charles, and Rosemary Harris plays their mother, Nanette. If you want more plot spoilers (see the spoiler section).No doubt, the film's performances and Lumet signature style are going to strike a chord with some. Others will start off thinking the look and cinematography feel like they're straight out of the 1970s when Lumet was in his heyday—which it does. That could be a good or bad thing, again, depending on one's perspective. It didn't work on some levels because the film is obviously not set in the 1970s. A lot of things would have made more sense had it been though. But, there was no "Lion King" and no cell phones, so, post 1990s at the earliest. Do you really want a film that takes place in the post 1990s to look like a 1970s film? As the director, maybe you do. Who knows. Anyway, the look of the film is off; and, then when moving on to the story and the characters, well, they are off as well. The story has quite a few holes. At one point, Andy says that his parts don't add up to his whole or something similar. Well, the parts of this film don't add up to the whole either. Which, artistically, could have been the point except we're given no reason to feel we are watching some artistically driven film anywhere along the way. Meanwhile, the characters are relatively universally repugnant, weak, selfish people about whom it starts off being difficult to care and only gets worse as the film reveals their true selves to be far more ugly than surface impressions might predict. And, in the end, the film proves itself to mildly intriguing, if one can overlook the abundant plot holes to be relatively sad, depressing, and without much light to shed on the human condition. The characters are relatively shallow for as highbrow as they are made out to be. Their motivations circle greed, mostly. And, in the end, they will all pay for their transgressions in varying degrees—except Hank who seems to get off Scott free and head off into the distance. Theoretically, this should have been a great film. Amazing director, great actors, and a complex morality-based screenplay with shades of Greek tragedy. Unfortunately, when the Devil's involved, theory goes out the window, Chico.
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Alternate Posters
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Alternate Poster
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Other Projects Featuring Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)
Cast Members
Philip Seymour Hoffman
• Ethan Hawke • Albert FinneyMarisa Tomei
• Rosemary Harris • Aleksa PalladinoMichael Shannon
• Amy Ryan • Brian F. O'ByrneBlaine Horton
• Leonardo CiminoDirector
Sidney Lumet
Writer
Kelly Masterson
| DVD | VHS |
World class director Sidney Lumet brings his touch to Kelly Masterson's tantalizing script about two brothers who attempt to commit a robbery but everything goes terribly, terribly wrong leading them to face their own selves and the consequences of their heinous actions. Unfortunately, there are too many holes in the plot, and too little is given to provoke much empathy for any one character in the film. The net result is strong performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, and Marisa Tomei, but with out much pay off in the end (which, in this case, is the beginning, but with a trick). In many ways, Find Me Guilty is a better swan song film for Sidney Lumet's filmography in many ways that Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.
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