3-Iron
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: April 29, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
23
Mixed:
4
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Quiet, mysterious, sometimes violent, ultimately close to sublime. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Alternately witty, caustic, tender and endlessly imaginative and unpredictable. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Despite its cargo of meaning, 3-Iron feels marvelously weightless, like the lovers as they stand on a scale that the hero has fixed.
90
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
The insinuating quality of 3-Iron is irresistible. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
This enigmatic and in some ways maddening motion picture has the power to haunt every viewer it reaches. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Creates a thoroughly curious combination of tension and eroticism. Read full review
80
Film ThreatEric Campos
It's a love story without all the verbal hooey and it hits harder than most. Read full review
80
VarietyDerek Elley
A rarefied love story, conducted with no dialogue between the principals. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
3-Iron gains its hypnotic power by observing these characters through a slight remove. With total command of his effects, Kim transforms an already peculiar romance into something as otherworldly as a ghost story. Read full review
80
The New York TimesDana Stevens
A teasing, self-conscious and curiously heartfelt demonstration of his (Mr. Kim) mischievous formal ingenuity. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The illicit lovers in this eerie South Korean drama communicate whole worlds without ever speaking. Read full review
80
Washington PostPhilip Kennicott
It's a film that will stay with you. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
It sounds high-minded, but 3-Iron is in fact simple and economical, blessedly straighforward, absorbing, and hard to forget. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Kim's wittiest effort to date, with a wordless performance by Jae Hee that recalls Keaton and Chaplin. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
3-Iron is like a Raymond Carver story that slowly, inexorably takes on the dimensions of a ghostly fairy tale. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Dreamlike and the slightest bit precious, the film is a beautiful, over-cultivated hothouse flower. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
The sooner you let yourself go with Kim's flow, the more likely you are to come away satisfied. Think of it as South Korea's answer to "Memento," just don't think too hard. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Beguilingly odd. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
Original, imaginative and stylish. Read full review
70
Village VoiceEd Park
Taut even when ridiculous, with flashes of comedy, 3-Iron has less to offer than its predecessors, but at minimum it's the playful exhaustion of a formal constraint. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The almost supernatural turn which Kim's lovely film takes during its final act, however, is totally unexpected, and just one reason why Kim ranks as one of the most justly celebrated talents in contemporary Korean cinema. Read full review
70
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
It's actually quite satisfying, in a weird, magical-realism sort of way that manages to disturb and confound as much as it appeases the romantic. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
As a writer-director, he's (Kim Ki-Duk) a wizard with the camera but a plebe with a pen. His latest, 3-Iron, continues the frustrating trend. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterAndrew Sun
The result is slightly less interesting and less appealing even as arthouse fare. Read full review
60
Dallas ObserverMelissa Levine
3-Iron is at times deliciously sensual, creepily somnolent, whimsically spiritual and disturbingly violent. But it is never quite coherent. Read full review
60
EmpireSteve O'Hagan
A compelling, if obscure, experience with evocative scene-setting and dreamy atmosphere. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
There is a vengeance motif that is worked out in a way that is both emotionally satisfying and completely unbelievable. Read full review
30
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
As repellent and repellently opportunistic a piece of work as the various shock-horror provocations (The Isle, The Coast Guard) that helped to launch this worrisome career (Kim Ki-Duk). Read full review
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