Review of Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) by Larry G — 24 Dec 2009

Haunting. This film concerns two brothers who need money and decide to rob their parents' "mom and pop" jewelry shop. To summarize a long story, it goes horribly wrong, and the movie concerns the events surrounding this horrible act, unfolding and depreciating into a cold-blooded web of deception and hate by the end.

This...is just unbelievably good. It's always engaging and always edgy, even though you pretty much hate the two main characters. What scumbags! But that's the point of the film - "the world is evil sometimes," says one of the minor characters toward the end, and that's really the only justification given for any of what happens.The main characters, played wonderfully by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke, are not always completely in control, but weâ??re not supposed to feel sorry for them because of that. And again, brutally realistic. Thatâ??s this filmâ??s main strength.

This film paints a harsh, bleak and decadent portrait of American culture - how did we come to this? That was the question that kept coming back to me as I watched this. Before the Devil Knows Youâ??re Dead is a tapestry of sin and unrelenting cruelty and desperation. It is a masterful and powerful film that actually shocks with the amount of horrible shit going on in it, and it makes no apologies for that. Immense, affecting and unforgettable, this is one you shouldnâ??t miss.

Extra points awarded for that creepy fucker from Bug making another appearance in a mean spirited and dark movie about human nature. Seriously, this guy is making a track record for himself.