Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson June 7, 2020

I can remember an evening after one of my film studies classes when my instructor, a professional Hollywood screenwriter of more than twenty-five years, and I were having a conversation about the true auteurs versus the "traffic cops" (as he put it), which refers to the competent yet prosaic filmmakers hired by studio moguls to direct their pictures. He brought up Sidney Lumet and considered him an overrated auteur. I mentioned that Lumet often was hired at a later stage after the script was written, producers began casting the picture, etc. Apparently, my teacher didn't think that Lumet consistently brought his own personal style to each picture and he gave more credit to his screenwriters and actors for their successes. Having seen more Lumet movies since and also listened to the audiobook to his wonderful book, Making Movies, I disagree with my teacher. Even in the so-called misfires, Lumet's films are all at least "quality" and invoke his street-smart New York sensibility.

When Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), Lumet's forty-third and final film, was in its theatrical run, I spoke to another film studies lecturer who I took a class with that was more enthusiastic about Lumet and eager to see his latest. I later went to the cinema to see it and came away very impressed. Contrary to what my screenwriter teacher confided to me, Lumet did have additional input on reshaping the script (at least on this film) and his direction here is razor sharp. On a recycled EPK featurette and a new interview with scribe Kelly Masterson on this disc, Lumet wrote new scenes that bookend the movie (although an epilogue was later excised). Lumet also altered the dynamics of the two key characters. Instead of Masterson's version of Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Hank (Ethan Hawke) as friends and co-workers at a real estate office, Lumet makes them brothers. Andy, Hank, and a low-life accomplice (played by Brían F. O'Byrne) conspire to rob the Hansen brothers' mom-and-pop jewelry store. Narratively, this raises the stakes in dramatic fashion.

Brothers in crime together.

In the recent interview recorded by Shout, Masterson explains how John Burnham Schwartz's 1998 novel Reservation Road influenced how he structured the story and filtered different character point-of-views (POV). Masterson recounts that in a draft, he actually employs four character POVs, including those from the vantage point of father Charles Hansen (Albert Finney) and Andy's wife, Gina (Marisa Tomei). Lumet dropped Gina's perspective and she's a secondary though still-important character in the finished film. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead works so well as both a family melodrama and suspense thriller because of the fresh and unique structural quirks that Masterson and Lumet bring to it.

In musical lexicon, a ritardando delays or slows down the tempo of a piece. Masterson, Lumet, and editor Tom Swartwout similarly "ritard" and impede the action. Their film is alternately told from the POVs of Andy, Hank, and Charles in the aftermath of the robbery. For instance, Lumet stops the middle of a scene to rewind from three days earlier to a meeting between Hank and Andy in the latter's office. Even if the same scene is repeated, the viewer gleans new details because the camera is placed in a different spot and lensed through an alternate angle. This forces the viewer to assemble the various pieces to a larger puzzle. Since Lumet intermittently halts scenes, he prolongs the final fates of his principal characters.

*Note: while Michael Shannon had a variety a bit parts prior to this film, "Dex" is arguably his first substantial supporting role. Lumet had not heard of Shannon but Hawke was familiar with his theater work.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead makes its second appearance on Blu-ray in the US courtesy of Shout Select. A dozen years ago, Image Entertainment released it on a BD-25 using the VC-1 codec. Shout has upgraded the 2K transfer to BD-50, which employs the MPEG-4 AVC encode. Original reviewer Ben Williams graded the Image transfer a 5.00/5.00 but keep in mind that was 2008 and as home theater technologies have evolved and advanced since then, so have the technical standards for evaluating high-def (and beyond) images. Lumet's movie was shot on the Panavision Genesis HD Camera and later converted to 35mm for the theatrical prints. My cinema did not have a DLP projector when I first saw it. The DI is the same as the one Image sourced for its transfer. There is some faux grain that seems to have been added in post-production. Skin tones and lighting are as I remember them in the theater. (I've seen the movie five times.) Philip Seymour Hoffman's facial complexion is either pasty white or beat red depending on his temperament. Leonardo Cimino, who portrays a diamond trader at a different jewelry shop than the Hansen's, has an ashen face (see Screenshot #7). Lumet imbues Ethan Hawke's character in disguise with accented light as he waits in a car during the morning hours at a West Chester, PA suburban mall parking lot (see capture #19). The glaring weakness of this and the old transfer is in-motion shimmering seen along background appliances, window grate, and car grille (see frame match #s 23-28 from the two transfers). The Shout boasts a mean video bitrate of 36000 kbps while the Image averages only 18981 kbps.

Screenshots 1-21, 24, 26, 28, 30, & 32 = Shout Select Collector's Edition 2020 BD-50
Screenshots 23, 25, 27, 29, & 31 = Image Entertainment 2008 BD-25

The 117-minute feature comes with twelve chapters.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shout supplies a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround track (2171 kbps, 24-bit) and a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo downmix (1669 kbps, 24-bit). The average bitrate of Image's DTS-HD MA's 5.1 was only 1941 kbps with a bit depth of 16 so the Shout is technically just a notch up. But I did hear better separation and amplitude in f/x and score. Hoffman and Marisa Tomei's post-coital conversation in a Rio de Janeiro hotel room is full of murmurs that can sound indistinct so Shout's optional English SDH come in handy. Dialogue for the remainder of the picture is discernible at normal listening levels.

Lumet, who was known for using minimal music or no music at all for a number of his films, had another composer write a score for the film before Carter Burwell took over. Lumet was reportedly not satisfied with how the original music underscored the characters. According to Burwell on his official website, he was given three weeks to craft a new score, which is essentially about ten minutes of material that's sometimes repeated. Burwell incorporates a sad-sounding acoustical guitar to underlie the tragic dimensions of the Hansen family. Dark piano, plucked strings, and a woodblock underscore what's the best theme of the film: the piece played in the moments before and after the robbery. The throbbing beats of the guitar were loud on my surround channels. No commercial album of Burwell's score has ever been released so I'm hoping it'll show up on a compilation.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Director Sidney Lumet and Stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke - this is the same feature-length chat with the director and his two stars that appeared on Image's '08 disc. Please see Ben's review for details. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Best Last Film: An Interview with Star Ethan Hawke (18:15, 1080p) - the Oscar-nominated actor and novelist appears interviewed in his Brooklyn townhouse. He performs wonderful impersonations of Lumet and Hoffman during rehearsals (in a gymnasium!) and filming. He talks about how he was approached to co-star in film, his ideas of first- and third-person acting methods, and his disagreements with Lumet over shooting the movie in digital versus on celluloid. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW A Dark Story: An Interview with Screenwriter Kelly Masterson (28:26, 1080p) - a great interview with Masterson (Snowpiecer), who was still working at a bank when he wrote the original script, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. Masterson reminisces about how it took seven years to get the film made, differences between his final draft screenplay and changes Lumet made in the shooting script, his favorite (and least-favorite) scenes and moments in the film, among other sub-topics. Masterson has one memory slipup at the beginning. He claims it was a book titled Resurrection Road that inspired the structure of his script. Indeed, there's a novel of the same name by Kathryn R Wall published in 2005. But then Masterson mentions John Burnham Schwartz twice so he evidently corrected himself and meant the novel Reservation Road instead. In English, not subtitled.

• Directed by Sidney Lumet: How the Devil Was Made (24:28, 1080i) - this rehashed featurette also was included on Image's BD-25. It includes talking-head interviews with producers Michael Cerenzie and Brian Linse as well as Lumet. We also hear from Hawke, Hoffman, and Marisa Tomei. THINKFilm has also intercut B-roll footage in of Lumet and his crew behind the camera. In English, not subtitled.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:01, upscaled to 1080i) - THINKFilm's original trailer for Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. In a late scene, the editor here has transposed a different reaction shot of Hank to Andy's dialogue, which differs from the finished film.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is one of 2007's best films and a fitting swan song to a legendary filmmaker's career. (Let's not also forget that Lumet was also a prolific director for TV earlier in his career.) The movie showcases Oscar-worthy performances by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke as two brothers in cahoots. It holds up well compared to when I initially watched it in the cinema and the unconventional back-and-forth thrust of the narrative deserves study. There remains an array of Lumet pictures still not released in high-def. His forgotten ensemble drama Power (1986) hasn't even received a widescreen DVD. Prince of the City (1981) and Family Business (1989) are also deserving of deluxe Blu-ray editions. Shout Select gives this movie an upgraded codec but I'd like to see a 4K scan performed on the negative and one which fixes the aliasing issues (which I don't recall on the theatrical print I saw). Shout recorded a good interview with Hawke that I wish had been longer and an outstanding chat with Masterson. A STRONG RECOMMENDATION for Lumet's closing curtain.