Dark Matter
First Independent Pictures | Release Date: April 11, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
10
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Hypnotic, culturally pertinent drama. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMaureen M. Hart
The film does a fine job of displaying the contrasts between these tense, formalized Chinese students and the faux populist American academics. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
First-time director Chen Shi-Zheng shows great sensitivity to the pressure and isolation felt by Chinese brains at American universities, and the relationship between Liu and Quinn provides a rare look at the intellectual serfdom of graduate study. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Dark Matter, with its view of cutthroat politics and competing egos inside a university, is also laudable in its refusal to soft-pedal the viciously petty side of the academic fishbowl. Read full review
60
Film ThreatZack Haddad
This is a great film, to a point. Unfortunately the ending doesn't deliver, making the entire feature an exercise is wasted potential. But maybe that's the point. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
Director Chen Shi-Zheng's film has a graceful energy, and three strong performances help make this serene drama - and its shocking conclusion - quietly moving. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Chen Shi-Zheng, well regarded as an opera and theater director, makes his feature film debut. Read full review
50
VarietyJustin Chang
Never fully succeeds in burrowing under its protagonist's skin, despite conspicuous effort. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
An unsatisfying drama that premiered at Sundance '07 and was supposedly delayed because of the Virginia Tech shootings. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The final act of Dark Matter is grim but unconvincing, and the shortfall leaves an ugly, exploitive taste in your mouth. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyGregory Kirschling
Liu Ye is too inexpressive for his role's demands, and the movie doesn't build to his downfall: It just zaps itself there. Read full review
40
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Dark Matter has neither the technical command of an art-house film nor the manufactured intensity of a grade-B thriller, yet it's also too cheap and dirty to feel like a Hollywood-scale drama. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleJosh Rosenblatt
It’s hard to ask for juicier, or more timely, subject matter than high-pressure academic ambition turning violent, but to map the descent of a genius into madness isn’t a task to be taken lightly. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesMark Olsen
It is easy to see the film as two movies crammed together, neither of them being very good. Read full review
30
Village VoiceNick Pinkerton
First-time filmmaker Shi-Zheng Chen shows little aptitude for accurately transcribing the textures of human interaction; there's not a single credible performance here, not excluding Meryl Streep as a faculty Sinophile, doing that thing where she grinds every line through a gauntlet of tremulous inflections. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleReyhan Harmanci
If only it weren't based on a true story. It might have been a good movie. Read full review
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