Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

by Brian Zitzelman

Sidney Lumet’s latest effort, the perfectly titled Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, centers on male relationships in the family. Yes, at its narrative core is a bank heist gone wrong, and boy does it ever, yet the film features a dad who never cared enough, the older brother who never felt adequately loved, the younger brother forever the baby and the tensions between all of them. It is a shame only two of the family’s three men having anything interesting to do, for in Lumet’s hands, the brothers of the picture are a rich and conflicted duo but daddy gets neglected.

The two brothers are Andy and Hank. Andy, played by the continually remarkable Philip Seymour Hoffman, is the elder brother. On first glimpse, Andy is an easy read, a well off businessman who wants more cash in his bank account and a few more frisky nights with his wife. He offers his brother a chance to join him in a new endeavor, an allegedly easy, morally innocent heist of a local jewelry store. The owners are elderly, well insured and just so happen to be Andy and Hank’s parents. Behind on child support payments and yearning to keep a loving bond with his daughter, Hank agrees to the deal. Five minutes into the movie, the whole plan has gone wrong and as too many films of late have done, a jump in the narrative timeline backwards occurs.

The maneuver works for and against Devil. First time screenwriter Kelly Masterson and Lumet use the device best to flesh out Andy. Hoffman breathes into the character a disturbing desperation that borders on dangerous. A smart man who undoubtedly should be better off in life, Andy is set in his ways emotionally, financially and physically, appearing scared to see any of it waver, tossing off all tough decisions to others. Though he brings up the heist idea to Hank, the younger brother agreeing to be a part of the move pushes the scheme into action, one Hank must do all on his own. In a career of fantastic performances, Hoffman’s work here is amongst his finest.

Ethan Hawke matches the Oscar winner with Hank, one of the actor’s most remarkable jobs to date. Hawke’s boyishness has been played for cute or hopeful in the past. Hawke channels the traits into a drained insecurity in Devil. Hank is a man who wants to please everyone, as long as the task refrains from being too difficult. Initially charming, Hank’s likeability oozes off as the sweetness is removed to reveal a skuzzy, naïve core.

Sadly, Devil suffers whenever Albert Finney takes center stage. The renowned actor, not helped by a scantily written father character, comes off as hammy. The time cuts for Finney’s patriarch add nothing to the view of his life, instead haltering the film’s natural flow. Lumet’s staging of Finney’s frame is simple and predictable - a shame considering how the director takes advantage of Hoffman’s commanding presence and Hawke’s jittery nature, especially while placed together.

When clicking, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is as good as anything else to hit theatres in 2007. Two-thirds phenomenal with the remaining featuring an illogical conclusion which only embellishes the film’s faults, ending not with a bang but an ugh.