Blood Ties
Roadside Attractions | Release Date: March 21, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
45
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
10
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Portland OregonianMarc MohanMar 20, 2014
Blood Ties not only convincingly recreates its era, it seems like it could have been made then. Read full review
67
The PlaylistGabe ToroMay 25, 2013
A couple of shootouts and chases are impressive, giving the film a little bit of momentum it sorely lacks, but it’s heartbreaking that ultimately the film doesn’t work. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyMar 21, 2014
While Canet's direction can't be said to be all over the place, the movie never settles into the groove it so dearly aspires to. Read full review
60
Village VoiceMichael NordineMar 27, 2014
Though it takes a long while for the many moving parts to click into place, the final minutes redeem not only a few characters but also Blood Ties itself -- not enough to make up for prior transgressions, perhaps, but enough to leave a favorable last impression. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinMar 20, 2014
There's a heft to the proceedings that keeps us invested even when the story's various strands start to unravel. Read full review
60
The DissolveJordan HoffmanMar 20, 2014
This isn’t a movie so much as a fetishist’s fever dream—a fantasia of New York crime movies from the 1970s that places the specificity of its time and place at center stage more than any actual New York crime movie from the era. Read full review
60
The GuardianXan BrooksMay 25, 2013
This hoary, hackneyed old cop-opera...is served with such relish that the fun proves infectious. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerMar 20, 2014
With his English-language debut, Blood Ties, Canet takes on material of even less interest to today’s big studios, constructing something much more ambitious than a straight thriller — a sprawling familial crime drama, heavier on relationships than chases or shoot-outs. Read full review
50
The New York TimesStephen HoldenMar 20, 2014
There are some very good performances and parts of performances in Blood Ties, but the movie fails to convey a sense of tribal identity within this world. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineAbhimanyu DasMar 20, 2014
What Lumet or Cassavetes often showed with a look, an image, a movement, Canet chooses to tell, and often at length, with the most heavy-handed dialogue imaginable. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartMar 20, 2014
It’s all headed for a showdown, of course, and duly delivers, though Crudup and Taylor are the only ones who really seem to have a handle on the New Yawk accent. Read full review
50
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMar 18, 2014
Among the cast, the Oscar winner Cotillard acquits herself the best, bleary-eyed and bitter. Read full review
40
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonAug 13, 2014
The soundtrack is crammed with ’60s and ’70s pop gems – several of them instantly familiar from Scorsese’s movies – while the colour palette is all muted corduroy brown and rainy urban grey. The result is less a homage than a slavish, overproduced cover version, lacking all the spark and integrity of the original. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyMay 25, 2013
The ‘70s recreation is reasonable -- there are plenty of vintage cars and pop tunes of the moment -- but the characters never register beyond the surfaces of the scenes despite being equipped with long-festering resentments and grudges. Read full review
30
VarietyScott FoundasMay 25, 2013
The tension rarely rises above a low boil. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierMar 20, 2014
Fine actors are let down by a comatose script and wayward direction in this retro crime drama. Read full review
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