'Before the Devil Knows You're Dead' is a brilliant drama

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

Director: Sidney Lumet

Cast: Ethan Hawke, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, Albert Finney

Cert: 16

Lumet brings us a complex but brilliantly constructed heist drama, told from several points of view after the robbery goes wrong.

If there is a fault, and a minor one it is, it lies in the under-development of some of the characters that leaves us with no real feeling for them. Though, for sheer acting alone, we can excuse Hoffman and Hawke from criticism.

Star Rating: 4/5