Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

I usually don't download pre-releases on bittorrent, but after hearing the review of this movie on the Radio 4 show Front Row I just had to see it as soon as possible. Predicting it to be one of the best movies of 2008 and mentioning "noir" and Memento really excited me, and let me say that I'm not dissapointed. I'm usually not impressed with the standard Hollywood-thrillers, but this one really stands out from the crowd.

The plot is really your standard heist movie with a robbery that just can't go wrong, but of course does so. Instead what makes this movie so good is the acting, the cinematography and the discontinuous chopped up time line. Philip Seymour Hoffman, who's in my opinion currently one of the best actors around, does an excellent part as the older dominant brother and the rest of the cast are almost nearly as good. The acting together with the cinematography creates a claustrophobic feeling that gets more intense the further the movie gets. The downward-spiral created by the failed heist recalls the bleak, deterministic feel of noir-movies and this movies should appeal to anyone who likes the old school stuff.

I was a bit surprised that I didn't recognise the director Sidney Lumet's name. A quick search on imdb made me realise my lack of knowledge as he has directed several well known movies, such as Dog Day Afternoon and Network. Network I vaguely remember as a decent drama, but I haven't seen anything else by him. This movie has sparked my curiousity and Dog Day Afternoon is already in my bittorrent client.