STUDIO:ThinkFilm
RELEASE DATE: April 15, 2008
STARRING: Ethan Hawke, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, Albert Finney, Rosemary Harris, Michael Shannon, and Brian F. O'Byrne
WRITTEN BY: Kelly Masterson
DIRECTED BY: Sidney Lumet
FEATURES: The Making of Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Filmmaker and Cast Commentary with Sidney Lumet, Ethan Hawke, and Philip Seymour Hoffman
Theatrical Trailer

"May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead."
-Old Irish toast

When the Academy wanted to bestow a Lifetime Achievement Award on the legendary Peter O'Toole, the actor reportedly balked at receiving it because he said he wanted to win another one outright. (And he was nominated for Venus just a few years later.) He knows how these things usually go. You can count the number of artists who have truly done something worthwhile after accepting what's usually seen as the final award for an illustrious career. Someone who has to be on the top of that short list is Sidney Lumet, a man who won an honorary Oscar in 2005 but proved last year with Before the Devil Knows You're Dead that he is every bit as vibrant and alive a director as the man who made 12 Angry Men five decades ago. At the age of 83, Sidney Lumet delivered a better-directed film than literally hundreds of filmmakers who saw their entire career from beginning to end in the time Lumet has been making movies. He's an undeniable master of the form. Many critics lament the lack of thrillers like we had in the late '60s and early '70s - the golden age of modern cinema. Maybe we just need to turn to the filmmakers who were working there and are still working today when we feel the need for thrills.

Like the best thrillers, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead wears its dark heart on its sleeve from scene one, what is described in the ratings box on the back of the DVD as "a scene of strong graphic sexuality." That's one way to put it. Lumet opens Devil with a startling shot of a naked Philip Seymour Hoffman having sex from behind with an equally naked Marisa Tomei. It's a warning shot across the bow of the average viewer - this ain't gonna be pretty and it's gonna be primal. From there, Lumet and writer Kelly Masterson (who deserved a nomination for Best Original Screenplay) weave back and forth between four primary characters caught in a horrible situation. Hoffman plays Andy, a slimeball of the highest order, who schemes with his loser of a brother, Hank (Ethan Hawke) to rob his own parent's jewelry store. It's the perfect heist - both brothers know the store in every detail and the insurance can pay back the family. What could go wrong? You know what they say about well-laid plans. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is Shakespearian in tone and it's not one of the comedies. The entire quartet at the core of Lumet's excellently-directed film - Hoffman, Hawke, Tomei, and Albert Finney - work together to make up one of the best ensembles of 2007. I wouldn't have been unhappy if any of them had been nominated for an Oscar and was honestly surprised that both Finney and Tomei were snubbed. This is the kind of film that would have scored half-a-dozen nominations in the late '70s and the movie will only grow in esteem over the years. Twenty years from now, viewers will assume it was a multiple nominee. It's that good and has that kind of timeless staying power. Thrillers this well-made, written, and performed never grow stale.

What do you expect from a movie like Before the Devil Knows You're Dead when you're rating special features? Honestly, do you need a lot on a thriller like this one? Not really. All you really want is a strong commentary and one behind-the-scenes featurette to fill in the gaps missing from the audio track. That's exactly what ThinkFilm provides with one of the most intellectually engaging commentary tracks so far this year with a trio of Oscar nominees in Lumet, Hawke, and Hoffman and a featurette on the making of the film. The video (in anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen) and the audio are better-than-average, enhancing the experience for newcomers or fans of the film. Like the movie itself, it's a nice, tight collection of extras that will only enhance your appreciation of the movie, something that's likely to happen more and more as the years go on. He may be in his SIXTH decade of filmmaking, but Sidney Lumet shows no signs of slowing down with Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.