blu ray movie
What you see in it says more about you than it says about Lumet and his straightforward, throwback-style entertainment, which is a richly played blu ray movie and dazzlingly blinged up with sex and drugs, but virtually devoid of human insight or narrative ambition. A darkly realistic vision of extraordinary power.
Lumet’s movie is about people rather than jewels or guns. And, at 83, he knows a thing or two about people. Emotionally brutal, ferociously acted, crafted with unflagging expertise and relentlessly locked in its vision of human darkness, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is as grim and despairing as any tragedy by Sophocles or Shakespeare.
While Masterson’s script might come up a hair short, Lumet remains firmly in control: Even at 83, there’s nothing arthritic about his ability to engage our emotions or our intellect. A moody, expertly-crafted combination of crime story and domestic drama with a superb ensemble cast.
Lumet directs the blu ray movie with the actor-centered efficiency that has served him well over a surprising array of projects. Superior fare, packed with insight and suspense. It revisits Dog Day Afternoon’s claustrophobic suspense and deep compassion for its characters — abject, grasping every men who truly believe they’re only one act of violence away from everything they’ve ever wanted.
Somehow, Lumet and his expert cast are able to make his shady characters compelling even though these folks might pause for only a passing thought before stabbing each other in the back, literally. Consistently engaging and suspenseful, tragic in a grand, Greek way, and loaded with sharp performances. If you want a quality crime caper, then this is for you.
