Night Moves 2014

Wesley Morris, Grantland: The movie is willing to see its ideas all the way through, while not entirely giving up on plot, and Eisenberg is unafraid to take himself where Reichardt needs him to go, which is right under our skin. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: An eco-parable about domestic terrorists turns into a suspenseful noir. Read more

Matthew Kassel, New York Observer: Ms. Reichardt does a stand-up job building suspense, with pockets of action here and there ... Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: "Night Moves" suffers from a lack of mystery and a deficit of motion. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: "Night Moves" is like a slow, meticulous heist movie, almost hypnotic in its precision. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: Precisely the sort of intelligent, measured thriller Reichardt's admirers would expect from her brand of patient realist filmmaking. Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: Another of the director's intimate portraits of people living on the fringes of society, it's at once her most plot-heavy and pedigreed production, and one of her most oblique. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: "Night Moves" is an unexpected pleasure, offering more than what we expect and taking its time to deliver. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: Though at times it threatens to become too generic to be original, or too original to be generic, it retains enough indirection to frustrate those looking for thrills and to engage those willing to be challenged. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: As in Wendy and Lucy, the natural and social environs are impeccably authentic, in this case conveying the bohemian radicalism of the Portland area that nurtures the trio's dangerous scheme. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: You may not buy the third-act developments, but Reichardt and her actors see to it that you believe in how these people got to that third act in the first place. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Night Moves may have a soft, almost dreamy feel, but at the core it's crucially hard-headed. In its own quiet way, in how it pulls together our utopian ideals and home-grown fears, it's the zeitgeist movie of the moment. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: The film builds its stakes with a methodical reverence for the natural world that the trio seeks to protect. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: "Night Moves" is a study of murky actions, fuzzy ideals and wrong moves for righteous reasons. Read more

Calum Marsh, Film.com: It's interesting to see a film raise its most important questions in the home stretch, but the sense that half the movie has been set up for a punchline feels disingenuous. Read more

Ben Kenigsberg, AV Club: An atmospheric but surprisingly thin procedural from the director of Old Joy and Meek's Cutoff. Read more

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: An engrossing reflection on radical violence and its fallout. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: What happens when a seemingly righteous operation goes wrong and anxiety threatens to overtake ideals? It is the question "Night Moves" asks and answers in chilling ways. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: In Night Moves, Reichardt keeps her characters close and up front, so when differences arise in their ranks and signs of vague trouble arise, the suspense starts to mount. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: What interests Reichardt is the physical realization of how the act is done; her feeling for the weight and the palpability of the world, and for continuity within sequences, has become masterly. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: "Night Moves" is a serious film, and certainly more thoughtful one than another recent eco-thriller, the gimmicky "The East." Yet it remains - especially for Reichardt - an oddly uninvolving one. Read more

Tomas Hachard, NPR: In its aim to tamp down Eisenberg's neuroticism and have him offer slow drips of revelation rather than bursts of loquacious energy, Night Moves keeps too much hidden from view. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Be forewarned: What admirers will consider measured may read, to the unimpressed, as merely slow-moving. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Sharp and haunting ... Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: Fanning is marvelous as a woman who's so bright and charming on the surface you can't tell whether she's floundering underneath. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: The influence of early Alfred Hitchcock is all over this movie, translated in unusual and original fashion. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Reichardt gives us scenes of people engaged in mundane labor and aimless conversation, but she doesn't make a case for such scenes as fascinating in themselves. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: A slow-burning suspense thriller about a trio of eco-terrorists conspiring to blow up a dam, it's directed by Reichardt with the concision and elegance of a chess master. Read more

Minneapolis Star Tribune: The anxious eco-thriller "Night Moves" plays like a saboteur's procedural. Read more

Rob Nelson, Minneapolis Star Tribune: I'd say this is a movie about alienation that, in the spirit of the boldest activism, isn't afraid to be ostracized itself. You may beg to differ, and I'd say that's the point. Read more

Jon Frosch, The Atlantic: A disquietingly beautiful, deeply intelligent thriller about radical activism and its consequences - both material and moral - in 21st century America. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Night Moves, including its title, borders on generic. Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: Reichardt wisely leaves it for her audience to decide. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: Josh is simply too brittle a central character to empathize with, and as the noose tightens, it becomes increasingly hard to care what he thinks, says or does. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Night Moves is a thoughtful, clear-eyed and provocative film that raises thorny questions but doesn't offer easy answers. Read more

Jake Coyle, Associated Press: "Night Moves" has a sure-handedness that shows Reichardt is still growing as a filmmaker. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: At times I thought I was bored, only to realize that I was actually feeling anxious and more than a little queasy. Read more

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice: The most radical thing about this eco-terrorism drama is its quiet patience and formal vigor. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: When I left the theater I still felt complicit - I had to remind myself that I wasn't on the run from the cops. Whether the film is much more than an exercise, though, is open to debate. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: It's a richly engrossing drama, so long as you understand that it's aiming for the head, not the gut. Read more