Cidade dos Homens 2007

Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times: There are moments in City of Men that feel so vividly accurate that you may find yourself ducking from the gunfire. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: City of Men is clunky and often contrived, but there's something haunting about fatherless boys in a blighted place fumbling to teach themselves what it means to be a man. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The story might have been lifted from an old Warner Brothers melodrama, though it's smartly paced, sincerely delivered, and consistently absorbing. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: City Of Men has its share of problems, but being too entertaining isn't one of them. The film isn't bad by any means, but after God's adrenaline-shots-to-the-heart rush, the laid-back storytelling comes off as a little sleepy. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: City of Men is outstanding in its own right, a moving story of the bleak lives of those living in the favelas, or slums, slaves to the drug-gang violence there, so immune to the constant danger that it simply becomes part of their lives. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Where City of God was ferocious, grandiose, and glamorous, this movie is modest and intimate, acoustic where the other was desperate to electrify. Read more

Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times: Our investment in their plight is ultimately enough to withstand the contrivance of the plot thread that tightens and tests the young men's relationship. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The new picture, directed by Paulo Morelli, does not try to compete with the dizzying visual gyrations and propulsive, nearly maniacal energy of the previous one, which was directed by Fernando Meirelles. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: City of Men has the electrically oversaturated style of reality that made City of God such a searing vision of teenage criminal life in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: Despite its contrivances and flashiness, City of Men somehow wins you over with its steady, underlying flow of intimacy and compassion. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Yet even with its reined-in aims, City of Men still gives you what few American urban crime movies do -- a sense of life as it's really lived in the slums, where there are few options and almost all of them are bad. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: The movie's power comes less from its contrived story than everything else: the stark setting, chaotic energy and authentic cast. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: Performances are up to par, but the story unfolds conventionally -- it lacks the fragmented fury of its predecessor. You might call it City of God Lite. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It plays like a Western, and the violence, while plentiful and visceral, rarely has the kind of raw impact you want in a movie such as this. Morelli keeps most of the blood off-camera. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Shot in a gritty, kinetic style that captures the colorful squalor of a neighborhood dubbed Dead-End Hill, City of Men is in many ways a more satisfying piece of storytelling than City of God. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: A compelling and visually arresting drama from Brazil. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: A gripping companion piece to the Oscar-nominated 2002 gangster masterpiece City of God. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Along comes a sequel of sorts, City of Men, but the difference is clear right from the first frame: Meirelles is gone and so is the intensity. What's left is a mix of credible sociology and tired melodrama, along with a palpable sense of deja vu. Read more

Philip Marchand, Toronto Star: This is an engrossing film, partly because the director pulls the camera back from time to time to mitigate the occasional effect of claustrophobia and to remind the audiencehow stunning the landscape is. Read more

Mark Holcomb, Time Out: Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: While Men is not as energetic or bracing as God, it is a disturbing exploration of violent drug culture in Rio's shantytowns. It's also a poignant look at the legacies of fathers who abdicate their responsibilities. Read more

Derek Elley, Variety: A lighter but also more emotionally satisfying take on the lives of favela gangstas. Read more

Julia Wallace, Village Voice: Paulo Morelli directs capably, with a heavy dash of MTV-generation flair: hyper-saturated colors, close-ups of skin glittering with sweat, and a constant patter of gunfire that undergirds the soundtrack like a steady heartbeat. Read more

John Anderson, Washington Post: City of Men tells a multilayered story coherently, with propulsive action and a naturalistic nod to the fact that so much of the world is a violent place. Read more