Enforcement
Magnet Releasing | Release Date: March 19, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
4
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
EmpireIan FreerSep 5, 2021
Shorta is a Molotov cocktail of a movie. For co-directors Ølholm and Hviid, it’s a Hollywood calling card. For the rest of us, it’s a tense actioner, anchored by powerful performances from its leads, who add layers to good cop/bad cop clichés. Read full review
75
Original-CinLiam LaceyMar 17, 2021
As effective as Enforcement is on a visceral level, it comes up short in any deeper reflection on the social crisis of its premise. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChuck BowenMar 16, 2021
The film is both a lurid urban thriller and an earnest parable about (almost literally) walking a mile in someone else’s shoes. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeMar 20, 2021
A thriller that’s both a relentless adrenaline rush and a social-issue Rorschach test for all who watch it. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMar 19, 2021
The film gives no reason for optimism in the urban warfare it portrays, but its heart, head and sharp eye are in exactly the right place. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 2, 2021
Enforcement, released as “Shorta” (Arabic slang for “cops”) in Europe, is a solid is slow-moving police actioner that reminds us that no matter the continent, police work is the same dangerous game. And that the world over, that “game” has entirely too many of the wrong sorts of people signing up. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeSep 5, 2021
While Shorta is certainly a propulsive piece of action cinema, which makes effective use of its acid yellow, cement grey and burnt umber palette and warren-of-concrete location, there’s a crudely schematic quality to the writing. Read full review
60
The GuardianCath ClarkeSep 2, 2021
There are plenty of heart-pumping moments, plus a fair few false notes, a couple of implausible coincidences and some exposition-y dialogue spelling out the film’s message, which is about how the two sides see each other. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshMar 18, 2021
The brawny Enforcement doesn’t shy away from brutal action, but the film is more in line with recent police thrillers like Deon Taylor’s “Black and Blue,” and Ladj Ly’s “Les Misérables,” which fuse overt sociopolitical commentary with genre thrills. Read full review
60
CineVueMatthew AndersonMar 2, 2021
Trouble lurks around every corner, and the narrative does keep us guessing, but this limits any sincere indictment of the apparently irresolvable us-and-them conflict. An arresting, often edge-of-your-seat action film, then, but not the enduring La Haine-inspired inspection of societal ills that it could have been. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsMar 19, 2021
And when the movie’s over, nothing is resolved that the filmmakers didn’t side-step or reduce to a few unconvincing symbols of hope for a more equitable future. You might like Enforcement if that’s a line you already want to buy; there’s otherwise not much here to change your mind. Read full review
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