34
Metascore
6 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 55NPRMark JenkinsNPRMark JenkinsShot in New Mexico on a limited budget, Boys of Abu Ghraib is a credible depiction of the tedium, frustration and humiliation of wartime service. (Jack gets coated in human excrement not once but twice.) Naturalistic scenes of boxing, bantering and masturbation, set to a rap and hard-rock score, emphasize that these boys are young American everymen.
- 40Village VoiceMichael NordineVillage VoiceMichael NordineToo by-the-numbers for the emotional impact to resonate as long as it could and should have.
- 40VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyThe film has a very good idea in using a single soldier’s perspective to explore how tension and boredom can lead to such extreme misconduct, but it doesn’t go far enough, in the end leaving a disgraceful chapter just dimly illuminated in psychological terms.
- 38RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoRogerEbert.comBrian TallericoThis is a story that still resonates in the way we deal with war, torture, and detainment camps. It demands depth.
- 30The DissolveAndrew LapinThe DissolveAndrew LapinWriter-director-star Luke Moran has his heart in the right place, and a clear compassion for soldiers thrust into impossible situations with no training, but he lacks the desire to steer his film in the honest direction this topic requires.
- 30Los Angeles TimesMartin TsaiLos Angeles TimesMartin TsaiThe film hardly scratches Abu Ghraib's surface.