73
Metascore
42 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlVillage VoiceAlan ScherstuhlA Most Wanted Man is simply a complex tale superbly told, with time for nuance and to soak in its mysteries.
- 83Film.comKate ErblandFilm.comKate ErblandWhile the final act might not surprise or stun, it does feature some classic le Carre movements, some trademark Corbijn ease, and a terrifying Hoffman bellowing at the sky – not so bad for just another spy film.
- 80VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangCorbijn succeeds here in large part because his attention to nuance and detail so fully complements that of the German operatives at the story’s core.
- 75Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment WeeklyCrackles with a jigsaw-puzzle intelligence and features a superbly subtle lead performance from the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, who single-handedly gooses the post-9/11 procedural through some of its slower patches.
- 75Slant MagazineJesse CataldoSlant MagazineJesse CataldoAnton Corbijn constructs a stifling world of shadowy surveillance and intersecting national interests, building on John Le Carré's sense of moral and emotional exhaustion.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe story is a jigsaw puzzle in which all the pieces are of an indistinguishable gray, making fitting them together a tricky matter.
- 70The DissolveNathan RabinThe DissolveNathan RabinA Most Wanted Man is a cold film that examines its characters from a clinical distance, but its iciness gives way to raw emotion in a powerful final sequence.
- 67The PlaylistCory EverettThe PlaylistCory EverettThe problem isn’t quite that the film is short on thrills (there is a paucity; the first adrenaline racing sequences don’t arrive until about an hour in), it’s that it’s not quite a character piece either.
- 60The GuardianXan BrooksThe GuardianXan BrooksIt's a professional old-school espionage outing, intricate as clockwork and acted with relish by the ever-watchable Hoffman. But it remains an oddly anonymous enterprise from this talented and distinctive director.
- 40Time OutTime OutDisappointing plod of an espionage thriller.