Shit Goes Really Wrong in Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007)
Reviewed by Willie

Sidney Lumet. The name rang a bell in the back of my skull and stuck like the grit in an oysters shell itching at it to make a pearl. Where did I know that director’s name from. I admit I had to go online to find out.

I should have known, grit defines this Scorcese-esque motherfucker. Turns out he was at the helm of one of my all time favourite cop flicks – Serpico – as well as Dog Day Afternoon another Pacino film that should have won him an Oscar – stolen by Nicholson for One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.. Both were directed by Lumet way back in the 70′s. Now he’s back at the age of 83 and directing his first feature film of the 2000′s and shit-balls son he’s still making great character driven films.

Hank Ethan Hawke) and Anthony (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) are both 3 strike losers competing for their father’s love. Hank is a weak-minded momma’s boy divorcé who struggles to make ends meet in order to support his daughter, whilst drinking himself to an early grave. Older brother Anthony is in a loveless sex-starved relationship with Gina (Marissa Tomei – her stellar tits giving one of their best performances on celluloid). Andy’s also got himself a massive junk habit and a good dose of Daddy Issues. This is compounded by his ongoing embezzlement of funds from the real estate company at which both brothers languish.

In debt and at a dead end, Andy ropes his meek younger brother into a scheme to rob a Mom-n-Pop jewellery store in the `burbs. Andy argues that its insured out the ass and the old woman working the morning shift will be easily dealt with. The clincher is that its owned by their parents.

Of course.

Shit. Goes. Wrong.

Really. Wrong.

Soon the boys are covering their tracks and are forced to come to terms with the crushing weight of their crumbling world as the film spirals toward a passionate and cold-blooded climax.

Hoffman should have been nominated for an Oscar for his role but was nominated for Charlie Wilson’s War that year so whatevs. This man is an actor’s actor and consistently brings his A-game to play. The final 20 minute act of the movie feature some cold ass motherfucking action and shines for this reviewer as a reminder of the hardnosed flicks of the mid 70′s. It’s nice to see Ethan Hawke in such a vulnerable war given his proclivity for cop roles and gangster (who’s actually an undercover cop) roles, here he act solidly and with purpose, playing the spineless weakling who you truly feel has fucked up every step of his life. The rest of the cast is competent enough to carry through the believability of the plot with Hanks ex spitting vitriol every moment he’s in her presence.

While definitely a crime thriller, featuring some cold-blooded violence, graphic spatter, and chilling detachment from the human condition, the pure drama that unfolds as the family disintegrates is compelling and yet entertaining beyond the simplicity of a heist flick or a razor edged bleakness of a UK thriller. Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead retains its grip on reality while pushing the bounds of loathsome yet somehow sympathetic characters whose motives are base but are just a response to our survival instincts when we’ve put ourselves in a hole and there looks like no way out except to keep digging down.

Buy Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.