93
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinA shrewd and engrossing documentary even for audiences who have absolutely no patience for the music it includes.
- 100Rolling StoneDavid FearRolling StoneDavid FearThe performance footage alone makes this worthy of study by musicologists and historians. There are too many great scenes to mention.
- 100SlateJack HamiltonSlateJack HamiltonThe Decline of Western Civilization is the finest cinematic distillation of punk ever made, not simply as music but as ethos. Featuring performances by X, the Germs, Black Flag, and the Circle Jerks, the film is frantic, caustic, electric, imbued with all the rage and love of a pogoing teen throwing punches at his friends.
- 100Washington PostWashington PostThe Decline . . . of Western Civilization is a bracing primer to just about anything one might want to know about the hard-core punk scene. At the same time, it's remarkably evenhanded, making no judgment on the musical or social standards of the movement. Director Penelope Spheeris neither champions, patronizes nor condescends to the participants' stylized fury. The result is a film that will appeal equally to the furious and the curious, assuming that both enter the arena with an open mind. [10 Nov 1981, p.D2]
- A movie so pungent and filled with sweaty intensity that you can practically smell the rank body odour of the film's subjects as they hurl their bodies against each other in a frenzy of aggression or perform as if in a trance, soaked with perspiration.
- 80Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesChicago ReaderJ.R. JonesThe live sets by X, Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, the Germs, and Fear, recorded between December 1979 and May 1980, still thunder after all these years; unfortunately so do the scene's racism, queer baiting, and utter despair.
- 70Time OutTime OutIt's far from unmissable, but it's valuable rock history with some great noise.
- 60TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineCreatively edited and as insightful as any film can be about the lowest rungs of the music scene, this overview expertly captures the time and place. Still, the movie lacks the crossover potential to appeal to non-punk viewers.