MovieChat Forums > Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) Discussion > The police didn't act credibly!

The police didn't act credibly!

posted 12 years ago by I_Created_U
13 replies | jump to latest

They didn't do their job AT ALL and it seemed pretty unrealistic to me. I mean when the robber gets killed, first things first u go to his wife and bring her the bad news, then u ask her "when was the last time u saw ur husband?" "Oh yeah officer i saw him on saturday morning <day of the robbery>, he left with his working buddy Hank"
BOOOM, hank is the son of the store's owner, let's go to his'.
Hank collapses and cries, too much pressure. Hank's in jail, movie's over. 10min flat.

Second "detail" that annoyed me, the director/writer didn't care to explain what happens to Hank after he runs away and for me thats not acceptable. How can u not finish the arc of one of the main character?? Simply unacceptable.

That being said i really enjoyed the movie and i gave it a solid 7/10.

"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs"

[–] PotassiumMan 12 years ago

Yeah, I don't get the impression that the police in Westchester County would be that lackadaisical about investigating a murder in which there could be at least one co-conspirator who got away.

[–] MrBlondee 12 years ago

Agreed, it is one of the aspect that make the film slightly unbelievable. Lumet concentrated to hard on the main characters that he sort of forgot about the world around it... which still existed.

I still think it was very strong movie, the acting and directing were astounding.

[–] prashn64 12 years ago

I think the wife purposely did not tell the police, because she wanted Hank dead.

[–] franzkabuki 12 years ago

"Because she wanted Hank dead".

No, she didn´t want Hank "dead", she wanted him to pay her bills now that the hubby was blown away... and come to think of it, she literally ´says´ as much in the film. Don´t folks pay any attention at all?

Also, there´s no point in following Hank around any longer as the film had already reached its emotional high point; there´s no bettering the hospital scene (and, considering what we know of his character, it´s obvious he´ll get caught soon enough).

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] I_Created_U 12 years ago

"considering what we know of his character, it´s obvious he´ll get caught soon enough"

LOOL! True that.

"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs"

[–] yllennoc 12 years ago

I guess you missed the part where her brother tells Hank that she wanted him to kill Hank, but that's not going to pay his sister's bills.

Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you in heaven for.

[–] PopperTheKungFu-Dragon 10 years ago

^^^^^ All this.

Very good. But brick not hit back!

[–] sc_taylor 10 years ago

But the police would have to have been able to ID the robber in order to go visit his wife. And I doubt he would have carried ID on him to do a robbery.
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My God, it's full of stars!

[–] andyd-1 10 years ago

people like the wife refuse to cooperate with police, as people have said she went to her family to sort it out.

[–] the_la_baker 10 years ago

They didn't do their job AT ALL and it seemed pretty unrealistic to me. I mean when the robber gets killed, first things first u go to his wife and bring her the bad news, then u ask her "when was the last time u saw ur husband?" "Oh yeah officer i saw him on saturday morning <day of the robbery>, he left with his working buddy Hank"
BOOOM, hank is the son of the store's owner, let's go to his'.
Hank collapses and cries, too much pressure. Hank's in jail, movie's over. 10min flat.

That is extremely tenuous. Someone gave him a ride that day, and it was his friend. Okay.... He wasn't wanted for murder or robbery. Conspiracy to commit robbery and aiding and abetting, but the robber is dead. That's as far as they want to take it unless it falls in their lap. No one even reported a get away car(AFAWK).

Cops also are notoriously lazy. They like open and shut cases. They "go to sleep" on hot leads all the time. The last thing they want is ambiguity as to who did it leading to a long an costly investigation. I can provide countless examples, if you wish.

[–] Don_Cheech 10 years ago

yea... it actually makes ALOT of sense. The cops are shown to be careless throughout the movie. "The robbers dead..." Case closed. No witnesses.

For all we know, the cops DID tell the dead robbers wife, and then she told her brother (dex/ michael shannon)...

whats so complicated?

also... the Biggie Smalls case is the perfect example on how cops would prefer to close a murder case w/ a hot lead rather than work hard and put $ into an investigation. they dont care.. its there job. they want to live comfortably.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Boromir (10130) 2 years ago

It's possible that they ask the wife but she didn't cooperate with the police, but it's still not make sense to me. It makes more sense that she was in too much in shocked to lie to the police at that moment. The possibility the police didn't ask is slight, robbing at that level must go with get away car. The same with the police didn't check for a car rental places near the crime scene. All these things possible but unlikely.

And I must agree with the off-topic about the ending, not reason for let us imagine what happen to Hank. Must more impressive in this case is to seen the fate of all main characters: One kill his son, other get murder and the last one gets free.

To sum up, still enjoyable movie but yeah the investigation parts are horrible.