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Alynda Wheat, People: MODERATE (cg) "While stylish, the film bores, robs Clooney of his appeal and never truly reveals his character, making the issue of whether he'll live or love fairly moot." (Read the full review...) 162 words, 09/02/10 Mary Pols, Time: WEAK "...surely the dreariest thriller of the year.... its emotional remoteness is contagious: If the film insists on being cryptic, why should we respond?" (Read the full review...) 366 words, 09/01/10 Jake Coyle, Associated Press: VERY GOOD (cg) "...a quiet, haunting European thriller, drained of emotion and moving to its own deliberate pace.... What is finally slightly disappointing is the familiarity of its story..." (Read the full review...) 783 words, 08/31/10 Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: MODERATE (cg) "...a draggy, rather morose art thriller.... requires Clooney to dial down his charm to nearly zero, and frankly, he looks twitchy and uncomfortable without it." (Read the full review...) 249 words, 09/02/10 Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "All this would add up to two clichés passing in the night if Corbijn didn't create scenes of harsh beauty and if Clooney didn't invest heart and soul in the role." (Read the full review...) 273 words, 09/03/10 Claudia Puig, USA Today: VERY GOOD (cg) "...works best as a study of a loner seeking to escape his past. Despite its rugged individualism, 'The American' feels distinctly and lyrically European." (Read the full review...) 475 words, 09/01/10 Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...gripping... It is so rare to see a film this carefully crafted, this patiently assembled like a weapon... Clooney is in complete command of his effect." (Read the full review...) 610 words, 08/31/10 James Berardinelli, Reel Views: VERY GOOD (cg) "...takes us into the mind and life of a hardened assassin... Anyone who understands what 'The American' offers should come away pleased..." (Read the full review...) 948 words, 09/02/10
A.O. Scott, New York Times: MODERATE "...the virtues of the film itself are those of craft rather than art.... there is not quite enough there: the still waters run very cool but not terribly deep..." (Read the full review...) 790 words, 09/01/10 Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: EXCELLENT (cg) "It's been a while since Clooney's let himself be alone at the center of a storm like this..." (Read the full review...) 446 words, 09/01/10 Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...while many of its elements whet our appetite and make the film well worth seeing, the film doesn't manage to deliver a fully satisfying meal." (Read the full review...) 657 words, 09/01/10 Kyle Smith, New York Post: POOR (cg) "...a siesta.... a pretentious Euro-snore that should occasion a fraud prosecution for any marketer who calls it a thriller..." (Read the full review...) 571 words, 09/01/10 Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...a paradox. It's ostentatiously restrained.... I enjoyed the film for its surfaces most of the way. Its pictorial assurance is undeniable. So is its destiny as an audience-divider." (Read the full review...) 558 words, 09/01/10 Frank Lovece, New York Newsday: VERY GOOD (cg) "Clooney is one of the few American leading men who could capture this haunted quality, and he well essays that antiheroic questioning of one's own worth when the answer is all too clear." (Read the full review...) 334 words, 09/01/10 David Edelstein, New York Magazine: GOOD "...in its spareness and uninflected pacing and use of space, it takes you back to an era of arty, angst-ridden European existential pulp movies that were like abstract essays on the genre." (Read the full review...) 769 words, 09/01/10 Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...gripping... It is so rare to see a film this carefully crafted, this patiently assembled like a weapon... Clooney is in complete command of his effect." (Read the full review...) 610 words, 08/31/10 Mark Olsen, Village Voice/LA Weekly: GOOD "Despite its director's disinterest in letting people in, there is nevertheless something exciting about a movie this uncompromised..." (Read the full review...) 613 words, 09/01/10 Peter Howell, Toronto Star: VERY GOOD (cg) "The film's many pleasures are in its slow reveals, the dangerously enchanting scenery being among them. There is much of Roman Polanski's cold eye for beauty in Corbijn's work." (Read the full review...) 523 words, 09/01/10 Liam Lacey, Toronto Globe & Mail: MODERATE (cg) "As it eases into its last hour, we begin to see there really isn't going to be a compensating intellectual payoff for the listless pace." (Read the full review...) 639 words, 09/01/10 Josep Parera, La Opinion: GOOD (cg) "George Clooney dota al conjunto de un aire de irreversibilidad fascinante." (Read the full review...) 325 words, 09/03/10 Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...may not be the best thing ever, but it's an entirely competent spin on the standard one-last-job thriller, and Clooney gives a solid performance..." (Read the full review...) 338 words, 09/02/10
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: MODERATE (cg) "...despite its sleek lines and a seductive polish, it sags under a fatally ponderous tone." (Read the full review...) 657 words, 09/01/10 Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: VERY GOOD (cg) "...a minor-key thriller... as meticulous, enigmatic and restrained as its protagonist.... a haunting rather than a galvanizing experience." (Read the full review...) 413 words, 09/01/10 Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle/San Francisco Chronicle: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...one fine-looking and extraordinarily thoughtful movie, its scenes laid out with fastidious care." (Read the full review...) 433 words, 09/01/10 Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: VERY GOOD (cg) "Crisp, compact and cryptic... works its way past 'formula' by the manner in which it builds its suspense." (Read the full review...) 522 words, 09/01/10 Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...explores themes of isolation and alienation but lacks the crude energy, spark and pacing of good genre filmmaking." (Read the full review...) 539 words, 09/01/10 Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: VERY GOOD (cg) "...a very patient movie, the inverse of an action thriller to an almost comic degree. With Clooney it's an interesting project. Without him, it would simply be boring." (Read the full review...) 628 words, 09/01/10 Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: EXCELLENT (cg) "Once you see the film, you'll get a good laugh at how the trailer presents 'The American' as a drum-rumbling action movie. It's anything but." (Read the full review...) 585 words, 09/01/10 Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: MODERATE (cg) "...trapped between European stillness and the American urge for kinesis. So every time Something Happens (a gunfight, a chase, sex), it does so almost outside what narrative there is." (Read the full review...) 659 words, 09/01/10 Clint O'Connor, Cleveland Plain-Dealer: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...a suspenseful ride that keeps getting better and better.... marvelously well directed by Anton Corbijn..." (Read the full review...) 458 words, 09/01/10 Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: VERY GOOD (cg) "Clooney, without employing any of his usual bag of tricks, nonetheless makes Jack matter to us, and lets us see this troubled man's unspoken dreams." (Read the full review...) 457 words, 09/01/10 Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian: GOOD (cg) "...a mood piece... does a nice job of balancing stillness and action, but it hits weakly when it hits at all and falls short of the small grandness to which it aspires." (Read the full review...) 374 words, 09/01/10 Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: VERY GOOD (cg) "...best appreciated as an exercise in style.... Corbijn seems only minimally interested in conventional thrills. What we get instead is a meditative character study..." (Read the full review...) 307 words, 09/01/10 Steve Spears, St. Petersburg Times: GOOD (cg) "...serves up long swaths of time devoted to shots of picturesque villas, soaring mountains, racing streams and empty cafes. Dialog, on the other hand, is in rare supply." (Read the full review...) 385 words, 09/01/10 Tom Long, Detroit News: VERY GOOD (cg) "...it all works, at least until the end where a confluence of confusion and clichés undercut the movie's power." (Read the full review...) 506 words, 09/01/10 Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: VERY GOOD (cg) "...an absorbing, unusually quiet mood piece.... slight and unessential, but it contains some beautiful, expert filmmaking and bears a distinctly adult sensibility..." (Read the full review...) 391 words, 09/01/10
Mark Olsen, Village Voice/LA Weekly: GOOD "Despite its director's disinterest in letting people in, there is nevertheless something exciting about a movie this uncompromised..." (Read the full review...) 613 words, 09/01/10 Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...an underwritten movie... Corbijn reveals his filmmaking intelligence throughout." (Read the full review...) 597 words, 09/02/10 Scott Tobias, AV Club: VERY GOOD (cg) "Its muted pleasures rest heavily on the sustained air of mystery around Clooney, and Corbijn, a pristine stylist, keeps the atmosphere nice and thick." (Read the full review...) 403 words, 09/01/10 Todd Gilchrist, Cinematical: FAIR "...a noble failure... It's a gorgeous film, but its restraint offers clarity without suspense, prodding the story forward without building meaningful tension for its main character." (Read the full review...) 817 words, 09/01/10 Bill Weber, Slant: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...the first hour is eminently watchable... It's the plot's descent into predictable turns and familiar comforts that ultimately traps Corbijn and his leading man..." (Read the full review...) 561 words, 08/31/10 Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...may not be the best thing ever, but it's an entirely competent spin on the standard one-last-job thriller, and Clooney gives a solid performance..." (Read the full review...) 338 words, 09/02/10 Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: EXCELLENT (cg) "...recounts a familiar kind of story... but Clooney and director Anton Corbijn invest the clichés with close attention and fresh energy." (Read the full review...) 566 words, 09/01/10 MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher: POOR (cg) "Not that there's anything intrinsically wrong about an anti-action, Hollywood-negating art film about death and high-powered weapons.... I was a little bit infuriated..." (Read the full review...) 764 words, 08/31/10
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...this elegantly crafted existential thriller risks alienating its audience... Yet Mr. Clooney's performance keeps you attentive, and the drama's seriousness finally earns your respect." (Read the full review...) 739 words, 09/03/10 A.O. Scott, New York Times: MODERATE "...the virtues of the film itself are those of craft rather than art.... there is not quite enough there: the still waters run very cool but not terribly deep..." (Read the full review...) 790 words, 09/01/10 David Denby, New Yorker: FAIR "...intriguing at first, even commanding.... turns into a rather inchoate and passive mixture of the hard-edged and the soft-brained." (Read the full review...) 720 words, 09/06/10 David Edelstein, NPR Fresh Air: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...so studiously desolate that I think if at the screening I attended someone had giggled in the wrong place, it would have opened the floodgates... But the silence held, and the movie cast a spell." (Listen to the full review...) 376 seconds, 09/01/10 Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...while many of its elements whet our appetite and make the film well worth seeing, the film doesn't manage to deliver a fully satisfying meal." (Read the full review...) 657 words, 09/01/10 Dana Stevens, Slate: VERY GOOD "...a great pleasure to watch, an astringent antidote to the loud, frantic action movies that have been clogging our veins all summer." (Read the full review...) 785 words, 09/01/10 Sam Adams, Salon: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "What redeems the movie, and then some, is the soulful weariness of Clooney's performance..." (Read the full review...) 932 words, 09/01/10
Robert Koehler, Daily Variety: FAIR "The tough-cool tradition of classic French crime dramas lives in Corbijn's thriller... until oddities and an unbelievable love story render it soft and nearly forgettable." (Read the full review...) 781 words, 08/31/10 Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: POOR "...nothing really adds up... You would like even the most austere, doctrinaire existential movie to earn its downbeat ending. This one fails utterly to do so." (Read the full review...) 683 words, 08/31/10 Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...while many of its elements whet our appetite and make the film well worth seeing, the film doesn't manage to deliver a fully satisfying meal." (Read the full review...) 657 words, 09/01/10 Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: VERY GOOD (cg) "You have to respect the filmmakers for refusing to compromise and turn the material into something more palpable and accessible." (Read the full review...) 554 words, 08/31/10 A.O. Scott, New York Times: MODERATE "...the virtues of the film itself are those of craft rather than art.... there is not quite enough there: the still waters run very cool but not terribly deep..." (Read the full review...) 790 words, 09/01/10 Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...this elegantly crafted existential thriller risks alienating its audience... Yet Mr. Clooney's performance keeps you attentive, and the drama's seriousness finally earns your respect." (Read the full review...) 739 words, 09/03/10
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