After a long series of artistic missteps, Sidney Lumet, 83, makes a smashing return to form with this bleak crime thriller that shows off the veteran director's many strengths.
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10/24/07
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)
88
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:156
Fresh:137
Rotten:19
Average Rating:7.7/10
Consensus: A tense and effective thriller, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead marks a triumphant return to form for director Sidney Lumet.
Rated: 15 [See Full Rating]
Runtime: 2 hrs 3 mins
Genre: Family Interaction, Thriller, Infidelity, Theatrical Release, Brothers, Affairs
Theatrical Release:11-01-2008
Synopsis: From the unexpectedly graphic opening shot, director Sidney Lumet proves he hasn't lost any of his bite with age. BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD is a riveting suspense thriller that retains the... [More]
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, Albert Finney
Director: Sidney Lumet
Reviews for Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Top CriticProof that Sidney Lumet's talent is, in every sense, timeless.
10/24/07
Lumet tries getting back to the outrageous satirical mode of Network and Just Tell Me What You Want, but this family dysfunction story fails the classic requirements of social critique.
10/24/07
A botched-heist thriller with labyrinthine plot twists, suspenseful character revelations and out-of-sequence narrative elements befitting a grand opera mounted on a massive scale.
10/24/07
Back in form after decades of mediocre work, Lumet elevates with skillful, elegant helming and good acting what's essentially updated version of old heist films and family melodramas of Arthur Miller and company, defined by explicit Freudian psychology.
10/24/07
The 83-year-old Mr. Lumet, who has handled such immortals as Brando and Magnani in his career, expertly extracts individually charismatic performances from Mr. Hoffman, Mr. Hawke, Mr. Finney, Ms. Harris and Ms. Tomei.
10/24/07
A triumphantly brisk, bleak B-movie.
10/24/07
This is not classic Sidney Lumet, but it's ample evidence that after more than 40 years working in this business, the director is still capable of crafting an entertaining and thought provoking motion picture.
10/24/07
Three years after being presented a Lifetime Achievement Oscar, the 83-year-old director comes forth with a violent family melodrama that is his strongest movie in at least two decades.
10/23/07
[A] furious and entertaining little morality play.
10/22/07
[Sidney Lumet's] touch in Before the Devil is so sure, so perfectly weighted, that it’s hard to imagine him capable of making a bad movie.
10/22/07
Working with the startlingly talented new screenwriter Kelly Masterson, Lumet fuses dark wit, suspense and tragedy into a time-shifting movie that vibrates with energy.
10/18/07
Amid this chaos, Sidney Lumet, fast approaching ninety and having directed some sixty feature films, assembles a controlled and steady mood of impending doom.
10/16/07
Devil possesses a dramatic power akin to watching a big train wreck, but it’s an elaborate Rube Goldberg device with no real heart at its center.
10/15/07
A tense crime thriller directed by Sidney Lumet that explores the dark side of sibling rivalry.
10/08/07
A movie as gritty and shocking as anything [Lumet] has done in his remarkable career.
10/04/07
Half the fun is watching a first-rate cast try to outdo each other without chewing up any scenery.
10/04/07
Director Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon) twists suspense around terrific ensemble performances in screenwriter Kelly Masterson's character-driven crime thriller that is at turns sexy, hilarious and devastating.
10/03/07
The thing that is so compelling about this film is that it makes the audience work for it.
09/30/07
With a turn or so too many of the screw, cast and crew make the dramatic events depicted in 'Before the Devil Knows You're Dead' believable.
09/23/07
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December 17, 2007:
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