As a last film for a truly legendary director, Before The Devil Knows You're Dead can only be described as a haunting, underrated masterpiece that any viewer will not soon forget. The film consists of an all-star cast, including the likes of the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei and Albert Finney. Even Michael Shannon shares a brief, but memorable, bit of run time. The casting was excellent all around and there were no characters that felt out of place or unnecessary to the story. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke specifically were the best either of them have ever been. The solid script and carefully written dialogue shared between the two main characters delivers some of the film's most riveting moments. And the "car scene" is one of Hoffman's most memorable on-screen moments. Those of you who have seen the film will know what I am referring to and those unaware are in for a treat.The story, while simple and admittedly not too original, manages to effectively show the characters' descent into violence and madness while jumping to before and after the event in which the movie revolves around. While sometimes the movie holds our hand a little too much with the story telling, I appreciated the fact that this movie wanted us to never be confused or lost within the time-jumping narrative. I was always aware of where our characters were and what point of the story I was witnessing.Now I have seen many comparisons between this film and the masterpiece known as Fargo, and while it shares the same theme of "simple crime gone horribly wrong" Before The Devil Knows You're Dead is not a darkly comedic venture. In fact, this movie is rarely anything but somber and hopeless. This is not a bad thing though as it seems that this was the director's intent. Delivering a powerful message through spurts of violence and intensity while never straying from the realm of reality within the movie. The violence and thrills are handled very well and are, at times, extremely intense.Now with all that said, there is only one thing that stopped the movie from being perfect and that is the ending. Normally when following characters throughout a movie we like to see how their story ends. It is common in all basic story telling. The importance of this cannot be stressed enough, especially if we are following a certain character throughout the entire film. Viewers want to know what happened to the character they have been following for the past two hours, but this movie denies you of that. It leaves the fate of the character out of view, and while that works for some movies, I sadly don't think it was the right choice here. Seeing all the things that this character has gone through and leaving it unfinished before the movie is over feels incredibly abrupt and doesn't fit with the rest of the movie. Despite this issue, Before The Devil Knows You're Dead is a masterpiece from a truly talented director. A tight written script brought together by superb acting and thrills, this is definitely a movie you should make time for.

This movie had a major effect on me as the story makes you think about what the average person would do in the same dire circumstances. The writing, direction, and the acting by all make this an amazing movie to watch. Ethan Hawke reveals himself as a great actor -- I could identify most with him and what he was going through. Albert Finney is also great as usual. It goes without saying that the late Philip Seymour Hoffman is great in this too. This is an amazing final feat of Sydney Lumet, who will be sorely missed -- as Sean Connery said, he had that "vision thing". I find it very sad when movies this good go unrecognized and unwatched -- please watch this and give your opinion!!

You know, there's a decent little sub-genre of films about crimes gone wrong in which the protagonists attempt to evade the law and clear up after their mess. RESERVOIR DOGS could be classed as such, but the real classics of the genre for me are the snow-bound classics FARGO and A SIMPLE PLAN. BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD is another entry in this sub-genre with much in common with the previous movies, but unfortunately it lacks the same kind of power.While I enjoy the narrative of the story, I have to say that this movie's style is all wrong. The jumping back and forth in time structure makes it feel all over the place and, indeed, that it's a mess. It would have been much better if it had played out completely linear. The look is cold, the style holds you back from the action. The direction is one of my least favourite things about the film, which is a real surprise given that the director is Sidney Lumet, purveyor of such classics as SERPICO and DOG DAY AFTERNOON. Sorry, Sidney; you just haven't got it anymore.Still, there are reasons to watch here, not least Philip Seymour Hoffman's sleazy, drug-addled businessman who finds his life spiralling out of control. Ethan Hawke is effective as his waster brother, and Albert Finney reliably solid as the siblings' father. Watch out for the lovely Marisa Tomei as Hoffman's girlfriend and the excellent Michael Shannon in a minor role as a bad guy. Lashings of violence and some shocking twists help propel the plot along, but in the end this was a bit of a disappointment and a case of wasted potential as it could have been so much better.

This film had the potential to be one of the very best of 2007, due to the script, but it was wasted. The direction kinda ruined the film. The non-linear narrative chosen was a mess: there was no need for it. Gratuitous, i must say. Some point of views in the story are pointless and don't add nothing to it, much the opposite. It also killed some twists in it that would be work perfectly fine. Also, i felt that the script lacked a bit of humor and dread. It's too dread in all aspects of filmmaking. The cinematography, or better, the art design, was very bad. The generic and bright gray was all over the place, and this is really a common aspect in the low budget Hollywood films that i strongly dislike. Because after all, it kills the colors of the film. Colors are essential.The soundtrack was as well generic. Just a tongue in the cheek score which plays like thrice in the entire film. Could've done a lot better. The performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman was great tough. He really did well portraying the disturbed predicted future psycho man.Anyways, this film could've done a lot better, but unfortunately it is that way and i don't recommend. 6.1/10