Day 4: Before the Devil Knows You're Red

Thursday, April 21, 2011

DAY 4, MOVIE 1:

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007), directed by Sidney Lumet. As you may know, director Sidney Lumet has recently passed away. He was one of my favorite directors, and has given us some truly great films in his lifetime. One of those great films was also his last, it is a smaller movie called Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, about two brothers who rob a jewelry store. I saw this movie when it first came out in theaters, and I’m glad I did. The story kept moving, and the acting was excellent all around (especially by Philip Seymour Hoffman). Once the movie starts, it doesn’t stop, the first 90 minutes literally only feel like 45. This is one of those movies really is better when you go in knowing very little about it. My feelings about this movie haven’t really changed over the years. I still think the story is engaging and the acting is top notch. My only complaint with the movie is the ending. Without giving it away, I felt the writer took the easy way out with the ending, especially considering everything that came before it. The ending wasn’t terrible, but it didn’t live up to its fullest potential. I thought the writer and director really wasted an opportunity with the final conversation between Hoffman and Albert Finney. I can’t help but think if they had taken the time to really go into what these characters were thinking, then this great movie could have become a modern classic. That’s unfortunate, but you shouldn’t let that keep you from seeing this movie.

DAY 4, MOVIE 2:

Red (2010), directed by Robert Schwentke. I like Bruce Willis action movies, and I like good action-comedies, but I feel this one doesn’t quite hit the mark. The premise itself is nothing new; a retired black-ops agent must reassemble his old team when their lives are threatened. But with the right director behind the camera, and the right chemistry between cast members can give these tired old premises a fresh energy. Red meets one of those two requirements. The cast is great. Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, and especially John Malkovich are all funny in their own separate ways, but they still all blend together nicely. However, the plot itself feels thrown together; there aren’t any plot twists here that I haven’t seen anywhere else. And the quality of the movie pays for that after all the main characters are introduced. Good chemistry between actors can only keep a movie flowing for so long before weakness of the plot causes the story to cave in on itself. This is a movie I wanted to really like, and I did enjoy it, but there isn’t anything in this movie to make me want to revisit it multiple times.