Le capital 2012

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Fourth-grade Marxism that compares banking to the Mafia and shows the suits standing up and cheering when their boss promises to rob the poor to pay the rich. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: The imagery is cliche, and therefore ineffective; the characters don't seem to operate in the world of finance, but in the world of financial thrillers. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: In the end, "Capital" is just a dark comic sketch of bald-faced greed, with little nuance or real feeling. Read more

Deborah Young, Hollywood Reporter: A serious European financial thriller is something of a novelty, and Costa-Gavras, the militant film master par excellence, shows perfect timing in his ambitious Capital, a film that lingers in the memory in spite of being rather irritating to watch. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: What's lacking is most surprising from this dissident filmmaker: the emotional outrage. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Director Costa-Gavras takes a vaguely facetious tone toward the evils of global finance, which he concludes is a game for gluttonous boys. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: "Capital" is a fairly engaging piece, and proof that an old director can still learn new tricks. Read more

Ella Taylor, NPR: Costa-Gavras' film excels as a meticulously researched procedural that goes deep into the grime of greed, deception and cynical exploitation. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: This is territory covered far more vibrantly in "Margin Call," yet director Costa-Gavras ("Z," "Missing") still has good, old-fashioned indignation to count on. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: The movie, based on Stephane Osmont's 2004 novel of the same title, is stiff and didactic. Even the high life portrayed in the film seems pallid, as if the director were frozen in disgust. Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: It's a bit like what The Godfather would have been if it had been set in "The Bank of Evil" from Despicable Me -- and if its antihero were a cipher instead of Michael Corleone. Read more

Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com: The famously left-leaning Costa-Gavras is preaching to the choir in his indignation, but he does so in slick, brisk fashion. Read more

Globe and Mail: Bottom line: It's no Margin Call, but still worth your investment. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: Capital ends up being neither a high-stakes thriller nor a cutting commentary on real-world bad behavior. It's just CEO exotica, all dressed up with nowhere to go. Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: A cracking good melodrama set in a contemporary world of high finance and low cunning. Read more

Jon Frosch, Village Voice: A tacky corporate noir that makes you long for the leanness of Margin Call, or even the clumsy theatrics of Arbitrage ... Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: "Capital" is too cynical to ever really suggest that redemption is possible. Not that anyone watching will even care. Read more