Boarding Gate
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: March 21, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
3
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
PremiereGlenn Kenny
This is very much a French intellectual cineaste's idea of a B thriller, and hence is as far from innocent in its genre as you can get. Which is not to say that Assayas deals in bad faith. Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Even in Boarding Gate, a modestly scaled, self-consciously tawdry exercise in genre appropriation, Mr. Assayas manages to say more about what it is to be human -- to desire, to fear, to be alone -- than most filmmakers say in a lifetime. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Argento always gives us something to watch, and maybe even something to fear. I've never seen her in a movie where I haven't been at least a little bit scared of her. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
The plot may be murky, but actress Asia Argento is a clear and commanding force throughout. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Boarding Gate's surfaces are often so staggeringly beautiful that its superficiality becomes forgivable, with the pleasant distractions of Assayas' multi-layered frames, Argento's sinewy allure, and snippets of Brian Eno ambience on the soundtrack. Why can't all movies this inane be this accomplished? Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Seriously flawed and not for every taste, the film was shot quickly and on the cheap, and is driven by Argento's slurred, scratchy voice and Bette Davis eyes. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
The oddball cast, by the way, includes Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon, who is infinitely more convincing speaking Cantonese than she is in her (presumably native) English. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Call it a victory of conviction over substance, but when Argento is onscreen, you look at her - not because she's good, but because she's there in a way nobody else is. Read full review
40
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
There's basically only one reason to see Olivier Assayas's self-consciously hypermodern, meta-sleazy, English-French-Chinese-language globo-thriller Boarding Gate, and her name is Asia Argento. Read full review
33
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
This one is just murk. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Boarding Gate was evidently made quickly and cheaply, and parts of it are fun. It’s too bad there’s no real viewer equivalent--that you can’t WATCH a film quickly and cheaply. Read full review
30
The New YorkerDavid Denby
It’s time for this talented man (Assayas) to pull himself together. He may have something serious to say about the brutal impersonality of global capitalism, yet he’s caught somewhere between insight and exploitation. Read full review
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
Draggy and incoherent. Read full review
25
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
A ridiculous poseur thriller that seems to be made up of the slow moments from Hong Kong action films and Euro-flashy stuff like "Run Lola Run." Read full review
20
VarietyRussell Edwards
Thrills and drama are left standing on the tarmac in Boarding Gate a limp, sleazy inanity by renowned French critic cum erratic helmer Olivier Assayas. Read full review
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