La French 2014

Peter Debruge, Variety: Jimenez adopts a vintage-kitsch sensibility, taking a disappointingly generic approach to his hard-to-follow narrative. Read more

Mike D'Angelo, AV Club: Jimenez, making his second feature, fails to provide the regular jolts of electricity this material needs. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: It may prove too slow for some and the meandering can be a little maddening, but overall it's worth the effort. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: It's a stylish affair, very solidly made if not exactly breaking new ground in our understanding of events or in the way the movies depict them. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: A common problem in crime-centric movies: The bad guys are almost always more fascinating than the good guys... Dujardin's bull-necked, hard-charging performance makes Pierre a worthy adversary. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Gangster movies should not be mildly interesting. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: There are no elaborate car chases or dizzyingly choreographed shootouts. Yet it's nonetheless a compelling portrait of two men in a specific time and place. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: Jimenez's sprawling cat-and-mouse thriller loses momentum and focus in the homestretch, but until then its '70s sun-and-sin-on-the-Cote d'Azur vibe is electric. Read more

John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter: A procedural epic whose complicated narrative is propelled by visceral action sequences and an unusually thrilling soundtrack. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: Despite the pedestrian screenplay (by Jimenez and Audrey Diwan), Dujardin and Lellouche are magnetic performers who slip easily into their antagonistic roles. Read more

Rudolph Herzog, Newsweek: Set in the 1970s, The Connection captures the gutter charm of a town that was never cleaned up and is as poisonous as it is attractive. Read more

Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: How can you dislike a film that signals a killing with "Bang Bang" and a villain with "The Snake"? Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: It starts with gunshots - a Mercedes and its driver are riddled by motorcycle-riding assassins in broad daylight - and the pace of "The Connection" is bang-bang brisk most of the rest of the way. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Riveting from its first moments, "The Connection" is fascinating in its presentation of character, as well as for its glimpse into the workings of an international drug empire and into the ways an imaginative cop found to chip at its power. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: While the story lacks focus here and there, the film never feels overplayed. It's a work of bloody style and solid substance. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: A byzantine, if ultimately conventional, heroic tale that feels like a guided tour down a familiar alley. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: Sports the most schnozz-tacular array of craggy-faced macho men this side of Easter Island. Read more

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice: The film is engaging, propulsive, cut with rare brio, chockablock with consummate tough-guy business. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: "The Connection" isn't all that different from a lot of police procedurals that have come before, but there's something about this particular gritty true-crime story that still fascinates all these years later. Read more