It is certainly a patronizing thing to suggest, but it is impossible to resist doing so: Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead , the latest film from 83-year-old director Sidney Lumet, feels like a movie that might have come straight out of Cannes from a fresh new talent. It’s really a film from a seasoned veteran filmmaker with the impressive ability to subtly reinvent his style without sacrificing the core elements that solidified him as a master in the first place. Lumet himself has commented on the matter, finding it curious critics feel the need to begin their reviews of Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead by mentioning his age. Well, it’s because Devil is not only a great film, but one that feels incredibly modern. Coming from an 83-year-old man, that somehow amazes filmgoers. I guess we’re all a bunch of closet ageists for assuming older directors should make plodding films with boring plots. But Clint Eastwood, Lumet is not.

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead follows the story of two desperate, financially-strapped brothers, Hank and Andy (Hawke and Hoffman), who concoct an audacious plan to rob their parents’ jewelry store. After suppressing their initial reservations by reassuring each other nobody will be hurt and their parents will be reimbursed through insurance anyway, Hank and Andy carefully plot the heist. But when the two take to executing their devious plan, it ends up gravely fumbled.

Devil opens abruptly with a graphic sex scene between Philip Seymour Hoffman and Marissa Tomei. The scene sets the brazen tone that permeates the rest of the film, and from the first frame, introduces the thematic elements Devil rests upon. The audience quickly learns from pillow talk that Andy is desperate to find happiness with his wife Gina through money, as the two only seem to be happy between the sheets in vacation spots such as Brazil. These themes of wealth and happiness, as well as others like family, loyalty, and accountability, saturate Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead .

Albert Finney steals the film from an impressive ensemble cast as the gruff (but relatable) husband and father who becomes frustratingly obsessed with tracking down his wife’s assailants. Marissa Tomei is another standout, since both leading males (Hoffman and Hawke) are never quite able to pull off the illusion of brotherhood as convincingly as expected. It’s not necessarily their fault, though. Kelly Masterson’s screenplay spends a minimal amount of time establishing a relationship between Hank and Andy as brothers, and the majority of the time with the two bickering at each other over the botched heist attempt. Ultimately, they feel more like quibbling business partners than brothers.

But perhaps it’s not Masterson’s fault, either. The disconnect felt between Hank and Andy as brothers can likely be attributed to the fact that Hank and Andy were indeed not brothers in the initial draft of the screenplay; it was an addition from Lumet. This isn’t to say it was a bad decision; the themes of family loyalty run so deep through Devil that it is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine a version of the film where the two aren’t related. But the brotherhood element surely could have been worked into the existing framework of the screenplay more effectively.

The circumstances surrounding the botched heist in Devil are revisited many times during the film from different characters’ perspectives, but not simply as a gimmick. As Lumet transitions back and forth between time and characters, he always includes another piece of the circumstantial puzzle comprising the robbery. This allows him to keep the relatively brief heist at the forefront of the film whilst exploring its immediate antecedents and consequences from many angles without feeling redundant. Through this technique, characters seeming confident and steadfast at the beginning of the film are revealed to be perhaps more crooked and fragile than they initially appeared when the audience is shown what happened just before or after the scene they saw earlier. The story expands outward in all directions, starting from the heist, in captivating fashion. Other movies have employed this technique, but few as masterfully as Lumet does here.

Devil’s final act is blisteringly intense, which serves both to end the film on an exasperatingly high note, as well as unintentionally bring to light how much the rest of it could have used that same intensity. When it’s all said and done, though, it becomes very easy to forgive such a petty and theoretical nitpick. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead may not be a perfect film, but it’s certainly the best heist movie to come along in a while, and a worthy addition to Lumet’s long and impressive filmography.

Grade: B

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead will be released on DVD next Tuesday, April 15, 2008.