Beasts of No Nation
Netflix | Release Date: October 16, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
79
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
27
Mixed:
1
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Washington PostAnn HornadayOct 15, 2015
Fukunaga imbues this study of ma­nipu­la­tion and manufactured loyalty with an unsettling degree of visual richness and lush natural detail. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 15, 2015
I never felt emotionally exploited by the terrors on screen. Rather, Beasts of No Nation is an act of gripping empathy. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattOct 8, 2015
Cary Fukunaga’s stark, beautifully shot drama was likely never meant to be a blockbuster; its brutal account of a child soldier in an unnamed African country is far too discomfiting for wider audiences. It absolutely does belong on a big screen, though, and more important, it just deserves to be seen. Read full review
100
The PlaylistJessica KiangSep 2, 2015
Matching Fukunaga's proven storytelling grace with a story truly worth the telling, the result is explosively authentic and yet lyrical, making an utterly inhumane and alien situation both completely real and completely abstract. Read full review
91
HitfixGregory EllwoodSep 9, 2015
Fukunaga not only directed the film but also co-wrote the screenplay and served as director of photography. His efforts have resulted in a brazenly confident piece of cinematic art where every image immerses you deeper and deeper into Agu’s horror. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinOct 19, 2015
Fukunaga’s hurtling camera and taut cutting keep Beasts of No Nation only just this side of hallucinatory, and Elba is the kind of titanic actor to kick it to a near-mythic level. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternOct 15, 2015
This is a harrowing film to watch. In spite of the vibrant jungle greens and the searing sun, it’s as bleak a vision of modern warfare as has ever been put on screen. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthySep 2, 2015
The necessity of circumstances dictates everything anyone does here and you can only react with varying degrees of outrage, anger, disgust, pity, empathy and, if you're a blind optimist, hope for something better. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrOct 15, 2015
The idea that there may be life after war and murder, even for the murderers, and what that might look like — what burdens you might be allowed to put down and what you’ll carry forward forever. The movie’s too wise, and too weary, to have a moral beyond that. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperOct 15, 2015
Fukunaga is a dazzling stylist, and at times the shifting palettes of the cinematography and the brilliant camera moves (he’s also the DP on this film) are so impressive as to be marginally distracting. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversOct 15, 2015
It's the remarkable Attah, whose young face reflects a hellish journey, that makes this fierce movie a blazing, indelible achievement. Read full review
85
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeSep 4, 2015
Beasts of No Nation is the kind of sincere, powerful filmmaking that gives socially conscious drama a good name. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid HughesOct 19, 2015
A bold portrayal of a boy soldier in a brutal, bloody conflict, anchored by commanding performances from Idris Elba and 14 year-old newcomer Abraham Attah. Read full review
80
Total FilmNeil SmithOct 13, 2015
Part war story, part endurance test, this harrowing portrait of a young boy’s loss of innocence is gripping, gruelling, grown-up fare. That said, some judicious trimming wouldn’t have hurt. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinSep 3, 2015
The film can get so emotionally and spiritually punishing that it needs Elba’s industrial magnetism to keep you on side. And vile as the Commandant may be, he’s a strong showcase for the actor’s talents. Read full review
80
CineVueJohn BleasdaleSep 3, 2015
Fukunaga and his actors - especially the two leads - have managed to create a riveting drama which is suitably appalling. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawSep 2, 2015
Fukunaga brings flair, muscular storytelling, directness and a persuasively epic sweep to this brutal, heartrending movie. Read full review
80
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganSep 2, 2015
Full of committed performances, particularly from Elba and the impressive young actor Abraham Attah, Beasts Of No Nation is a project of considerable integrity which makes for a consistently-engrossing, if over-long, viewing experience. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenOct 14, 2015
The atrocities against children begin to acquire an unwelcome redundancy in their relentlessness and threaten to inure the viewer. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 3, 2015
Beasts on No Nation makes a terrific vehicle for Elba and a grim reminder that even if we’re tired of hearing of it. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc MohanOct 16, 2015
The real star is Attah, a Ghanaian street kid plucked from obscurity, who imbues Agu with just the right mix of terror, brutality and the last remaining vestiges of boyish innocence. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaOct 15, 2015
The country goes unnamed, the warring factions aren't always clear, but the nightmarish exploitation of children is made specific in the most vivid, visceral ways. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleOct 15, 2015
The world here is so ugly that only beautiful tracking shots, rich close-ups and adroit handheld work could make it bearable. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. ScottOct 15, 2015
The movie itself is an effective nightmare, and a solid piece of filmmaking, strong enough to make you wish that it could have borne the full weight of the tragedy it set out to depict. Read full review
70
VarietyJustin ChangSep 2, 2015
While Fukunaga creates Agu’s world with an extraordinary attentiveness to detail, he hasn’t quite found a way to approximate the novel’s radically childlike perspective, or to bridge the gap between this child soldier’s psyche and our own. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerOct 16, 2015
The film in the end seems more of an expertly orchestrated blood bath than a full-scale tragedy. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzOct 16, 2015
The film is good to excellent in every way except morally, and there it's questionable more often than it should be, not because it's an evil film, or because the filmmaker or actors are bad people, but because the interplay of means and ends have been under-thought or misjudged, to the point where the film becomes a catalog of obscenities. Read full review
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