Assassination Nation
Neon | Release Date: September 21, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
12
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
CineVueChristopher MachellNov 28, 2018
Piece by piece, Assassination Nation lays out and deconstructs the misogynistic assumptions that underpin many of our reactions to the girls’ behaviour. Read full review
90
Film ThreatMatthew RoeSep 21, 2018
Although skirting the inexplicable and the absurd, Assassination Nation is a pulpy and immensely entertaining roller coaster, hallmarked by its relentless sociocritical bite and refined cinematic craft. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattSep 27, 2018
There’s a kinetic energy in Levinson’s telling, and real catharsis in a riotous final sequence that feels all the more triumphant for the unlikeliness of such a bloody, happy ending. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeNov 29, 2018
This is pure genre exploitation – a gleefully gory revenge flick that leaves its small-town streets awash with blood. It may also be one of the smartest, most perceptive commentaries on a contemporary society distorted and magnified by online hysteria that you are likely to wince your way through. Read full review
80
EmpireAndrew LowryNov 19, 2018
Like a real-life stroppy teen, Assassination Nation is pissed off with something new every five minutes — but there’s style and sophistication here. The Trump era has its first dorm-room classic. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie Felperin
Energetically lurid, gratuitously violent and a hell of a lot of fun, horror-satire Assassination Nation is a throwback to black-comedy teen flicks of yore, but with a bitingly timely feel. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerSep 19, 2018
Hungarian cinematographer Marcell Rév puts himself in the top echelons with his kinetic, vibrant work here, smashing Jacques Jouffret's neon-and-blood visual thrills from "The Purge" series into suburbia with a slick and easy violence, and when the world breaks down – as in one of the most brilliant and sickening home invasions ever filmed – he makes the stylish chaos all too believable. Read full review
67
Original-CinJim SlotekSep 20, 2018
Assassination Nation may be empty calories as social satire, but it’s a dark, wry, of-the-moment story of run-amok panic that will entertain horror fans. Read full review
67
ConsequenceSarah KurchakSep 18, 2018
I might not be able to tell you what exactly Assassination Nation is, but the one thing I can confidently say is that it’s not easy to forget or dismiss. Read full review
67
IndieWireEric Kohn
As Levinson swings wildly for the fences, Assassination Nation yields a modicum of payoff. Read full review
65
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeSep 21, 2018
It’s always apparent what Assassination Nation is going for, and it more often than not fulfills its ambitions, and the hits more than make up for the misses. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 22, 2018
Equal parts “The Crucible,” “Kill Bill” and well, hell — “Carrie” — Assassination Nation is straight up action exploitation, a scantily clad, sexed-up slut-shamed girls satire about scantily clad, sexed-up and slut-shamed girls who get even. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawNov 8, 2018
Assassination Nation has got some gross-out chutzpah, and the surreal marching band scene over the final credits is inspired. Read full review
60
The New York TimesAisha HarrisSep 20, 2018
Often it feels like reading a Twitter thread of ideas and hashtags, rather than watching a movie. Yet the final act, a “Purge”-like blood bath to the tune of vengeance, is aesthetically arresting. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloSep 18, 2018
Assassination Nation tells you right up front what to be appalled by, then simply delivers what it promised. Unlike the best examples of either horror or satire, it ultimately comforts and confirms rather than challenges. Read full review
58
The PlaylistJordan Ruimy
The first hour is overwhelmingly exciting as Levinson uses split screens and more stylistic techniques to make his story pop. The dialogue is also delivered in impressively natural fashion, with the leading quartet discussing subjects that capture the zeitgeist. However, the ultra-violent finale goes over the top, lacking the pizzaz and inventiveness of the film’s earlier stages. Read full review
50
Rolling StoneDavid FearSep 26, 2018
Assassination Nation thinks its a f*ck-you punchline. It’s actually the film’s most honest admission — its one true self-own. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChuck BowenSep 24, 2018
Assassination Nation carelessly affirms the idea that all women should be able to fight back at will, and if they don’t, it’s on them. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisSep 21, 2018
Assassination Nation won’t get any points for narrative cohesion or character development, but it’s a timely, visually arresting statement about how pandemonium in this country threatens to become the new norm. Read full review
50
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonSep 20, 2018
A Heathers meets The Purge meets Russ Meyer free-for-all that takes elements of the Salem witch trials and transposes them to the age of the internet. That's a lot to take on, and there are diminishing returns by the time the movie reaches its bloody conclusion. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzSep 8, 2018
Levinson displays some amazing technical chops – most of which can be traced back to Joseph Kahn, but never mind – and there’s one standout home-invasion sequence toward the end. But some warnings are best heeded. Read full review
50
The Film StageJordan Raup
Assassination Nation may hit buttons in the moment, but looking back, it fades away as an experience as ugly as it is unpleasant. Read full review
50
VarietyAmy Nicholson
Levinson’s battling more villains than any script can take on, and by the end, his sharp jabs bleed into a gory finale that settles for cathartic cheers. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyAlan ScherstuhlSep 20, 2018
While sometimes messy, this material is emotionally resonant and cinematically alive. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comTomris LafflySep 21, 2018
So hectically overdone in style that it already feels dated despite its timely leanings, Levinson’s film vaguely shelters a compelling story about today’s unforgiving online mob mentality beneath its convoluted layers. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshSep 20, 2018
It’s a chaotic jumble of movie references, cellphone footage, emojis, trigger warnings and edgy teen content. But it’s the fumbled “feminist” commentary that is just embarrassing to watch. Read full review
25
UproxxVince Mancini
The “social commentary” feels exactly as derivative as the rest of the film, like someone artlessly smushing together imagery they’ve seen, a sort of uncanny Muzak of hip provocation written by a less coherent Bret Easton Ellis. Read full review
10
Film Journal InternationalNick SchagerSep 20, 2018
From the get-go, Levinson makes every wrongheaded directorial decision imaginable in an apparent effort to make one loathe Assassination Nation—and his success in that regard proves this teensploitation schlock’s lone triumph. Read full review
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