Devil's Knot 2013

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The movie sucks the audience into the power of the confessions, then shows us what really happened. Read more

Adam Markovitz, Entertainment Weekly: The movie doesn't grab you emotionally, but director Atom Egoyan (Exotica) teases apart the case's details with grim fascination. Read more

Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post: It's as preachy as "The Crucible," with the score permanently set on "mournful." Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Mr. Egoyan's fascination and research don't really shed any new light on the case. Don't let that deter you. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: While Egoyan and Co. are to be commended for doing a tactful, dignified job with material that could have made for a ghoulish horror show, the result nevertheless comes across as a flat, ponderous proposition ... Read more

Ben Kenigsberg, AV Club: It's easy to understand the impulse to avoid melodrama. But Devil's Knot is an inert exercise, visually and dramatically on par with Drew Peterson: Untouchable. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: The grief, the madness of the community, the plain stupidity of the cops, the mass protests that followed the convictions, the horrible power of it all - none of it comes across in this drab film. Read more

Calum Marsh, Film.com: What value is there in telling this story now, and in this way?" Read more

John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter: Compelling feature treatment of the much-documented scandal. Read more

Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: The film's restraint verges on blankness; a mood of desolation builds in this story of the West Memphis Three, but not an involving drama. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: A wan gloss on a horrific nightmare. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: A rather dull docudrama that doesn't have a strong reason to exist, outside of perhaps a financial one. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: This stilted crime drama from Atom Egoyan feels misguided from the start. He's attempting to fictionalize a true story that has already been told better, several times over. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: The real-life characters, as shown in the documentaries, are far more colorful and quirky than they appear in these well-acted but comparatively safe performances. Read more

Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer: An exhaustively researched - and, quite frankly, very exhausting - adaptation of journalist Mara Leveritt's book. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Comes across as a cinematic, slightly dramatized Cliffs Notes edition a story that's been told often. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: While Devil's Knot is restrained and respectful, it also feels earnest and cautious, and too much like a movie of the week to capture the sprawling complexity of the real events. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Atom Egoyan's cool gaze fails to fully serve the boiling narrative of Devil's Knot, a story that seems destined to forever elude a satisfactory resolution. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: Takes a long time to tell us nothing we didn't know ... A missed opportunity. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: A nimble filmmaker, Egoyan wisely underplays the exploitative aspects of the story and never loses sight of the tragic deaths. Read more

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice: Other than [an] act of honest argumentation, Egoyan's Devil's Knot offers little for anyone who has followed the case or seen any of the other docs. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: It's not a bad film, exactly, but it's a jumbled, uncertain one, and it never quite makes a compelling case for itself. Read more