Sidney Lumet directs Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke and Albert Finney in this crime drama where two middle aged brothers plan a robbery at their parents jewellery store.

Lumet’s last film is a slight return to form. Seeing him re-explore his old safe stomping ground of New York crime. It is a bit cheap, so strange to see an old master reduced to making a calling card indie debut during a period when Scorsese was making your Hugos and Spielberg his War Horses. There is a fractured time hopping structure that holds few surprises. Maybe the inevitability of the downfalls is the overall take home. This is more Shakespearean than Tarantino rip-off. The stacked cast of gold standard talents tower over the material. Hoffman and Marisa Tomei being especially on form.

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Perfect Double Bill: Derailed (2005)