Spoiler Points for Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)

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Spoiler Points for Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) [R] 117 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $12.75
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer

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Click to read the non-spoiler review

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Well to start with, the opening scene is the end of the film, and this is a huge spoiler, but this scene is apparently a delusion in Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman's) mind that corresponds to the idea that you'll have half an hour in heaven before the Devil knows you're dead, in which case, he's going to want you. So, the first thing we see is Andy going away at his trophy wife Gina (Marisa Tomei) in a lavish suite in Rio, and then flopping down with a Cheshire Cat grin on his face as if he's just won a Gold, Silver, and Bronze medal from the same event at the Olympics. We are fooled into believing, at first that this is real and that Andy is going to survive all the mayhem his plans, shone in flashbacks from the various character's perspectives, force him to endure. But, he does not, nor should he given the heinous nature of his character. The truth is that Andy cons his little brother, Hank (Ethan Hawke) into robbing a jewelry store to net them each $60K. The store he has in mind is their parent's store. The plan will be for Hank, in disguise, to go and rob it, and then Andy will fence the goods. Hank has no intention of robbing his parents in what Andy calls a "victimless" crime since the insurance company will pay out the losses. But, after another run in with his sassy ex-wife, Martha (Amy Ryan), he decides to take Andy up on his offer. Because he just cannot stomach the thought of robbing his own parents, Andy enlists his buddy, Bobby (Brian F. O'Bryrne) to do the actual robbery in a ski mask. No one seems to know there's a gun in the drawer in the store, so when Bobby turns his back on Nanette (Rosemary Harris)—Hank and Andy's mother whom they believe doesn't work Saturday mornings, she takes a shot at him. He returns fire, and in one last burst of life, she shoots him again, this time through the plate glass door. Now, if anyone can explain why she fails to lock the door when she opens a jewelry store alone in a shopping center on a Saturday morning, good luck. Anyway, Hank flees in the getaway car. Never having been noticed by nor having noticed that his father had dropped off his mother instead of the usual Saturday employee. Hank calls Andy, and the wheels start grinding in his mind as to how to solve this. The story then becomes about them covering up their involvement more than anything else. Unfortunately, to do so, a lot more people are going to have to die.

Spoiler Points:
• Nanette dies.
• Charles (Albert Finney), Andy and Hank's father, becomes obsessed with finding the killer of his wife. He ultimately finds out based on a business card dropped off at a notorious fence that Andy is probably responsible for the murder.
• Andy is leading a dual life where he spends a lot of time a the apartment of his dealer doing heroine. He has also embezzled two salaries worth of money from his company, and the IRS is auditing this week.
• Hank's no angel. He's been having an affair with Gina every Thursday for months.
• Bobby's wife sends here brother Dex (Michael Shannon) to collect a settlement from Hank over Bobby's death. He has no money, so he goes to Andy. Andy has a plan. He's and Hank will rob his dealer taking all his drugs and money. At the apartment, Andy kills the dealer and the two escape with a suitcase full of money and drugs. They set up a meeting with Dex and Bobby's wife. There, Andy shoots Dex and kills him to end the suspected decades of blackmail. But, he didn't plan on Bobby's wife having a gun. She shoots him, and Hank runs off with the money.
• Hank leaves a CD in the CD player of the car he rents for the robbery.
• Charles follows Andy to the hospital and ends up smothering him in bed after painstakingly removing the heart monitoring clips from Andy's chest and placing them on his own so as not to alert the nurses to his son's cardiac arrest a moment too soon. He then leaves the hospital down a long corridor, and that's the end. This is probably when Andy has his 'dream' about being back in Rio with Gina Before the Devil Knows He's Dead.

Plot Holes:
• Andy has embezzled the salaries of two employees in his department for months. How on earth does it make sense for him to get involved in robbing his own parents for $60K?
• How could Andy and Hank not know there was a gun in their parents' jewelry store to worry about?
• How could Hank not see his father's car and realize he must have just dropped off his mother not the other worker? With all the shooting in the jewelry story, how could Hank not go in and see if anyone needed help?
• How could Hank not think he'd be caught when the police found Bobby and talked with Bobby's wife? This was a stupid, stupid plan.
• What kind of car rental agency wouldn't be able to identify Hank on the spot? You cannot rent with out ID, credit card, etc. Meanwhile, since when would a manager be needed to give back a CD left in a car? What was the point of this part of the plot—to make Hank go back to the car rental place two more times?
• Why does Charles kill Andy, but let Hank off the hook?

Conclusions:
• The story never says what happens to Hank. Apparently, earlier cuts of the film has a final scene with Gina and Hank on the beach in Rio living off the money. But, this would have been an even worse ending than the ambiguous one we get.
• Why is it a good thing that Hank never gets punished for his actions? He's just as guilty as Andy?