Byzantium
IFC Films | Release Date: June 28, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
5
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The New York TimesManohla DargisJun 27, 2013
Again and again, as the story shifts between women, times and moods, Mr. Jordan adds a punctuating flourish...that exquisitely illustrates the once-upon-a-time mood. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJun 17, 2013
The movie is gorgeous, mesmerizing, poetic; the lyricism actually heightened by harsh jets of gore. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesBruce IngramJun 27, 2013
It takes a while, but the old-fashioned pleasure of watching a well-told story unfold eventually becomes the chief satisfaction in Byzantium, though there are other things to enjoy as well. Read full review
83
The Film StageChristopher SchobertOct 27, 2016
Throughout, Jordan’s direction is stylish and smart, while its cast succeeds in making its characters truly involving. Read full review
80
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekJun 25, 2013
Byzantium isn't Jordan's first movie about bloodsuckers—that would be 1994's Interview with the Vampire—but it's the right vampire movie for today, poetic and elegant in an artfully tattered way. Read full review
80
Time OutKeith UhlichJun 25, 2013
Jordan’s poetic sensibilities more than make up for any flaws. His uncanny aptitude for conjuring up resonantly metaphorical images — from a pointed fingernail pushing toward a vein to a waterfall turning into a literal river of blood — proves there’s plenty of life left in this undead genre. Read full review
80
EmpireKim NewmanMay 12, 2013
A mixture of tough and wistful and reflective and brutal, this is the ideal vampire movie for Twi-hards who’ve had their hearts broken for the first time and want to move on to a less cosy vision of eternal romance with a side order of addiction. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniJun 27, 2013
While it flirts with the ridiculous, the film manages to maintain a certain gravitas as its many stories unfold. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedJun 25, 2013
It’s not perfect, but when it works, Byzantium towers above all of the romantic vampire slobber we’ve been getting lately. I fear that Dracula is watching from some moldy crypt somewhere, nodding approval. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnMay 12, 2013
By the standards of Jordan's earlier films, "Byzantium" is unquestionably a minor achievement, but its technical specs help flesh out a thick environment that elevates the proceedings to a lyrical plane. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJul 4, 2013
Jordan’s tone is consistently drab and morose, which is fitting enough, but the story drags a bit, bouncing back and forth in time in a manner that is sometimes useful, sometimes not. Overall, though, it’s an intriguing addition to the genre. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyJun 27, 2013
Byzantium's appeal is not so much its bite, which could use some refining, but the emotional journey its undead take. In Jordan's hands, the vampires are so very human. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jun 26, 2013
With her piercing baby blues that never seem to settle on a subject, even when she’s locked in conversation with it, Ronan seems just… off enough to play a vampiric vixen. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJul 11, 2013
The joke seems to be that in 2013, it’s hard to teach an old bloodsucker new tricks. Still, Byzantium has a few moves that might surprise you. They have nothing to do with blood, but everything to do with the heart. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJun 24, 2013
There’s not much new here, but at least Byzantium has well-acted, compelling characters telling its time-worn tale with style. That’s the best we can hope for, these days, from this genre that will not die. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezMay 28, 2013
Forlorn depictions of love and death may dignify Neil Jordan's film, but narrative withholding ultimately drives a stake into its unmistakable heart. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Sarah Nicole PrickettMay 12, 2013
Female-forward and class-conscious, allegorical and adventurous, Byzantium is almost the anti-Batman. Read full review
60
NPRIan BuckwalterJun 27, 2013
Neil Jordan seems well aware that audiences may be feeling deep fatigue about vampires. So with his latest, the director of Interview With the Vampire makes a vampire film that seeks to reinvent the species, while harking back to a more classical — read: less sparkly — take on the genre. Read full review
60
Total FilmNeil SmithMay 12, 2013
Jordan’s apparent resolve to make an anti-Twilight unfortunately results in a movie that, if not for a fistful of moments of shock, style and excess, would be as drained of colour and tension as Ronan’s victims are of hemoglobin. Read full review
58
Film.comJordan HoffmanMar 12, 2013
It isn’t just the bright colors and the costumes but every visual aspect of Byzantium that sings. Neil Jordan knows where to put the camera. It’s just a shame he wasn’t able to inject a little life inside that frame. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanJun 26, 2013
The best thing in the movie is Arterton's sultry, claw-baring turn, but mostly it's a rudderless riff on "Let the Right One In." Read full review
42
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthMay 12, 2013
Though given two committed turns by a tremendously sexy and vicious Arterton and a solid-as-always Ronan, Byzantium often feels as gray and lifeless as the corpses in the film. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle SmithJun 28, 2013
Neil Jordan’s Byzantium dares to rework “Twilight” with twice the teen moping and Robert Pattinson replaced by a guy with the sexual magnetism of a sickly Ron Weasley. Read full review
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