44
Metascore
17 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 63TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghTV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghIt's an entertaining diversion whose clever structure gives pulp-crime cliches a welcome twist.
- 60VarietyRonnie ScheibVarietyRonnie ScheibBrand has assembled a cast of world class improvisers, yet doesn't take advantage of their own particularized, inflected rhythms, as each ritualistically experiences a jump-cut fragmentary flashback in front of the same bathroom mirror.
- 50New York Daily NewsJack MathewsNew York Daily NewsJack MathewsIt all comes together at the end, logically and with a twist. But it's not a game that allows the audience to play along. When the story is controlled by whatever memories the writer and director choose to put in the characters' heads, you're always on the outside looking in.
- 50New York PostKyle SmithNew York PostKyle SmithTo kill 80 minutes, the movie has to pad itself with several dull speeches and stagy moments. The worst? How about when the five men, who have ample reason to fear each other and are facing a life-or-death reckoning, whistle "Ode to Joy" together like a bunch of Whiffenpoofs?
- 50L.A. WeeklyL.A. WeeklyDirector Simon Brand channels both "Saw" and "Reservoir Dogs" (good influences, both) to propel his main story forward, and even gets nicely twisty when the climax comes, but it's hard to escape the feeling that the B-story was added in to pad the film's running time.
- 50Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsChicago TribuneMichael PhillipsWhile Brand manages a couple of effectively brutal bits of violence, Matthew Waynee's gassy screenplay is all premise and no propulsion.
- 42The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonThe A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonUnknown manages a hat trick by making its march toward the climax so tedious and unlikely that it unravels even as it gets off the ground.
- 40Village VoiceVillage VoiceThe pacing is slightly off, with the action switching between the imprisoned men and the police who are trying to find them, and what should be a mounting sense of urgency inside the warehouse (think Reservoir Dogs) falters and goes slack.
- 40The New York TimesLaura KernThe New York TimesLaura KernAfter a whole lot of buildup, and a real letdown of a payoff, the only enigma left is why we should care.
- The movie's disinterest in character might be forgivable were its plot not riddled with holes.