Collapse
Vitagraph Films | Release Date: November 6, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
4
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
There are many layers to the man and the movie, and it’s hard not to leave the theater shaken. Read full review
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jennie Punter
Even in a season of apocalyptic films, these facts are really, really scary. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
I don't know when I've seen a thriller more frightening. I couldn't tear my eyes from the screen. Collapse is even entertaining, in a macabre sense. I think you owe it to yourself to see it. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
You may want to dispute Ruppert, but more than that you'll want to hear him, because what he says -- right or wrong, prophecy or paranoia -- takes up residence in your mind. Read full review
90
VarietyRob Nelson
Unnervingly persuasive much of the time, and merely riveting when it's not. Read full review
80
The New York TimesJeannette Catsoulis
His well-rehearsed rhetoric is shockingly persuasive, and since the majority of his premises are verifiable, any weakness in his argument lies in inferences so terrifying that reasonable listeners may find themselves taking his advice and stocking up on organic seeds. (Those with no access to land can, postapocalypse, use them as currency.) Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Ruppert makes a compelling argument that the world is approaching a paradigm shift unlike anything in human history. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
If any of what he says makes sense to you -- and even if it’s only a small piece, it’s terrifying -- then you’ll want to invest in gold and organic seeds and friendly relations with your nearest neighbors. You know: JUST IN CASE..... Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert Abele
A grueling peek at a doomsday prophet's rigorous mind but in a sly way also a compassionate look at the strain Ruppert endures from knowing he has only ever been right. Read full review
63
Washington PostDan Kois
Think of Collapse as the anti-"2012." Not because this dour doc is any more optimistic about the future than that recent apocalyptic spectacular but because its vision of disaster is delivered not through expensive special effects but by a talking head. Read full review
60
Time OutDavid Fear
While this totally impartial approach is admirable, it also robs Collapse of any invested sensibility. Smith has given this bull a stage on which to rage, but why the filmmaker has bothered to mount the platform in the first place is, frustratingly, anybody’s guess. Read full review
50
Village VoiceNicolas Rapold
Smith lets Ruppert's plainspoken autodidactic skepticism get gradually shriller until his arguments dissolve into tears of grief and frustration. There's an element of Errol Morris in the film, which implicitly psychologizes its subject and watches as he talks himself deeper and deeper into the hole. Read full review
50
NPRMark Jenkins
If nothing else, while watching Ruppert, you'll believe he believes this stuff. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
It would have been helpful had Smith put his words into some sort of context, allowing others to assess his theories. Instead there's simply Ruppert, talking, raging and warning, as if his very life depended on it. Read full review
25
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Boring. Read full review
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