68
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzRogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzThe evident smallness of the production belies its power to disturb. It's like one of those knives that are small enough to be hidden in a coat sleeve or the lip of a boot but that can still cut a man's throat.
- 80We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoWe Got This CoveredMatt DonatoA Vigilante succeeds not by exploiting torture, but instead shifting focus to Olivia Wilde's painful, so very real performance.
- 80VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanAs an actress, Olivia Wilde has been something of a shape-shifter, but in this movie she seems to be burning through all her previous roles to find something essential. She grabs hold of the spectacle of agonized female anger, and does it with a grace and power that easily matches that of Frances McDormand in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”
- 75The PlaylistJordan RuimyThe PlaylistJordan RuimySober, unflinching and fits perfectly with the current political movements such as #MeToo and #TimesUp.
- 75ObserverRex ReedObserverRex ReedAfter "Enough" and five "Death Wish" movies, the revenge genre is not without its recurring clichés, many of which get defrosted and microwaved again in A Vigilante. The point, if there is one, is that “heinous criminal felonies are acceptable if they are justified by a woman driven beyond the limits of reason.” As one battered wife says, “Every graveyard is full of people who didn’t make it.” The same is true of old movies gathering dust in Hollywood film vaults.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThe Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeA Vigilante offers some grim, imaginary satisfactions in support of real survivors who need whatever help we can give.
- 70Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayLos Angeles TimesNoel MurrayThe two sides of A Vigilante are ultimately held together by Wilde’s ferocious performance — which swings between steely control and eruptive emotion — and by the way Dagger-Nickson frames nearly every moment from Sadie’s perspective.
- 70The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisDaggar-Nickson gestures in certain directions, but for the most part she avoids deeper, troubling questions about retribution and violence. Instead, she concentrates on the genre basics, as in the movie’s admirably hard-core final face-off.
- 63Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreBut Wilde gives this woman her all. We see her with every freckles and imperfection showing on her cover girl face. And in the couple of scenes that require fight choreography, she handles herself well enough to be convincing.
- 38Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenIt conspicuously tries to distance itself from the revenge film’s propensity toward florid excess.