L'assaut 2011

Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: In place of emotional stakes, we get gleaming, stylized, occasionally slow-motion violence, filmed in such extreme close-ups and cramped spaces that it's impossible to differentiate gunman and victim. Read more

Alison Willmore, AV Club: Brisk and technically efficient, The Assault is a dull film based on a real event that certainly wasn't. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: So gripping and focused that it easily bests Hollywood movies with 50 times its budget. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: Only the overstylized, near-colorless cinematography offers any shades of gray (actually, nothing but shades of gray); everything else is rendered in the most black-and-white way possible. Read more

Mark Holcomb, Village Voice: The Assault is so tense, it seems to pass in a single held breath-so quickly, in fact, that you don't register its narrative flimsiness until later on. Read more