All the Old Knives
Amazon | Release Date: April 8, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
9
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
EmpireJohn NugentApr 8, 2022
A smart, compelling, pared-down thriller for grown-ups, anchored by a pair of stunningly charming performances from Chris Pine and Thandiwe Newton. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 6, 2022
Maybe a little unexpectedly, Amazon Studios have given us a very watchable and classily upscale espionage drama-thriller in the spirit of John le Carré. Read full review
75
The Film StageConor O'DonnellApr 8, 2022
Like a good snoop, All the Old Knives works its assets to maximum effect. It knows what it’s doing with Chris Pine in a turtleneck or Thandiwe Newton smirking through a glass of rosé. What’s left is a sturdy version of something maybe too familiar but welcome all the same. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreApr 7, 2022
For a movie built on probing conversations, details and relationships, it’s pretty good. Not in the LeCarre class, but imitation is the sincerest form of spycraft flattery. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattApr 6, 2022
Pine and Newton work valiantly to fill in the blanks, though the gray-flannel template of the dialogue often pushes back. When they do manage to transcend it, the movie becomes something still rare enough to appreciate: an urbane thriller calibrated for slow burns and analog attention spans. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliApr 6, 2022
Keeping in mind the limitations imposed on the production by the running time, All the Old Knives offers a compelling (if ultimately unremarkable) spy movie that tilts more toward a drama than a conventional action/thriller. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperApr 6, 2022
Based on the novel of the same name by Olen Steinhauer and directed with style and skill by the Danish filmmaker Janus Metz, All the Old Knives feels like a small-scale version of a John Le Carré adaptation, with the obligatory Spy Movie Score as perfect accompaniment to the tension-building sequences in the restaurant and the cloak-and-dagger stuff in Vienna. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleApr 6, 2022
Looking back over All the Old Knives, it might be more accurate to call it a spy romance, except that makes it sound titillating. Better to say it’s a movie about the consequences of trying to stay human while working in the spy business. Read full review
75
IndieWireKate ErblandApr 6, 2022
Come for the espionage thrills, stay for the wrenching dissection of what it means to really love someone. That’s what really cuts deep. Read full review
70
IGNZaki HasanApr 15, 2022
While not necessarily the very best of this genre, it’s a solid character drama benefiting from strong performances by a top-drawer cast. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesMark OlsenApr 12, 2022
The film is a compelling concept that doesn’t thread the needle of its competing impulses quite as gracefully as it might have, but driven by the imminently watchable Newton and Pine, it makes for the kind of adult-oriented storytelling one wishes there was more of these days. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzApr 6, 2022
The twists are somewhat predictable; a twist within a twist is reasonably satisfying. But this is the kind of movie that relies less on surprises than chemistry. And Pine and Newton’s is fine, nothing more. In fact their conversation is far more magnetic than their romantic scenes. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanApr 6, 2022
I’m glad to report that All the Old Knives is a minor but engrossing genre movie: tightly wound, more or less rooted in the real world, with taut dialogue and espionage gambits that fall just this side of contrived. It’s not John le Carré, but it’s not thinly patched together pulp either. Read full review
70
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganApr 6, 2022
It is silkily persuasive in its own hot-sleuthy way. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyApr 6, 2022
The storytelling moves along at a steady hum, maintaining intrigue as different pieces of the puzzle come together. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesApr 11, 2022
If tradecraft is what you like best about the espionage genre – the dead drops and dead-of-night tailings – then All the Old Knives will feel comparatively pokey, especially put up against the kind of spry spy entertainments long-form television so capably produces. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubLuke Y. ThompsonApr 7, 2022
All The Old Knives is compelling moment by moment, but afterward viewers may have some lingering questions about what characters hoped to accomplish, or why they were involved at all. Read full review
65
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzApr 6, 2022
Knives has just enough expensive style, steamy sex, and wild plot contrivances to hold your attention. Read full review
65
SlashfilmWitney SeiboldApr 6, 2022
At the end of the day, however, one will walk away satisfied with the characters and moved by a bleak and tragic ending, but left with little to carry in their memory. Ironically, a film about the painful suspicions of the past and the aching nature of memory is largely unmemorable.  Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiApr 8, 2022
It's an intriguing idea for a film, I suppose, but it proves to be pretty much all setup with precious little follow-through. Not even the good performances from the two leads can make the whole thing work. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanApr 6, 2022
The framing device of the conversation between Henry and Celia, which includes a bit of flirtation, necessitates a certain ennui, though director Janus Metz (“Borg vs. McEnroe”) does his level best to open up the claustrophobic setting with frequent jaunts to other times and locales. Come to think of it, there’s an air of a tennis match to the proceedings of All the Old Knives, with its two protagonists playing a mental game of volley and return, as it were. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyApr 6, 2022
The filmmaking is stylish yet impersonal — or can true style be impersonal? Maybe that’s why proficiency is a better word. A general slickness obtains. Read full review
60
Rolling StoneK. Austin CollinsApr 11, 2022
All the Old Knives is brief enough, politely suspenseful enough, for its stars to carry without much hassle. Read full review
60
NMEPaul BradshawApr 8, 2022
Watching Pine and Newton try and erotically spoon-feed each other bits of bacon while secretly trying to work out if they have to kill each other is more than enough to hang an entire film off. It’s just a shame the rest of the movie isn’t up to scratch. Read full review
60
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergApr 7, 2022
While All the Old Knives keeps cleverly resetting the table it’s laid out, it can’t fundamentally alter the meal. Read full review
60
CNETJennifer BissetApr 6, 2022
If you're looking for a good old-fashioned espionage thriller, All the Old Knives ticks most of the boxes -- as long as those boxes don't include suspense or trench coats or general spycraft. Read full review
58
ColliderMaggie LovittApr 8, 2022
All The Old Knives attempts to convince its audiences that it is a tawdry game of chess, but in reality, it’s a game of checkers. Pine and Newton are its saving grace, with their performances elevating it just above the waters of drowning in its own self-importance. Read full review
50
Screen RantRachel LaBonteApr 6, 2022
All the Old Knives lacks innovation, but it still serves up an entertaining ride thanks to Pine and Newton's twisty dynamic. Read full review
42
The PlaylistRobert DanielsApr 6, 2022
It’s all pastiche; all surfaces with nothing below. And it leaves one cold. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyApr 7, 2022
With the best will in the world, Metz drags us through a labyrinth of intrigue but messes up the crumb trail. We’re left disorientated, and underwhelmed. Read full review
40
TheWrapElizabeth WeitzmanApr 7, 2022
Why, given all its potential, wasn’t the bar set higher? That, alas, remains the most noteworthy mystery of all. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneNina MetzApr 8, 2022
All the Old Knives settles for all the old tropes. Read full review
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