S A A. (Learned2Heal) wrote on 5/3/2009...
A true masterpiece, this movie. It will have you on the edge of your seat throughout. Amazing character development and acting. No surprise that, from Philip Seymour Hoffman and Albert Finney. The real surprise was Ethan Hawke who, to me, always seemed an overrated mediocre actor. He was unbelievably good in this!
The plot of this film is fairly original and deserved the nominations for Best Original Screenplay, but the presentation is what makes it really work. There should have been an award for the editing too. The score ratcheted up the suspense nicely also.
The whole story comes together flawlessly, at its own prescribed pace. You may not feel much for the characters, but you don't have to. It merely shows you how seemingly ordinary people can get themselves into extraordinarily bad situations just by a slight miscalculation or two. They think they have this plan all sewn up, no problem. So simple. A cakewalk really. All too human... And so are their reactions when it all goes horribly wrong.
I gave it 4 stars. IMDB gives it 7.4/10.
There are several copies of the DVD (not mine) available on this site, if you don't want to wait for the Blu-ray.
(http://www.swapadvd.com/dvd/title/187839-Before+the+Devil+Knows+Youre+Dead+Widescreen)