Gattaca
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: October 24, 1997 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
A handsome and fully imagined work of cautionary futuristic fiction. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Niccol's futuristic fable is a gorgeous construct, from its cast on down to the brilliant, clinical nature of the set design that reflects a future in which even a particle of saliva can be one's undoing. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
This is one of the smartest and most provocative of science fiction films, a thriller with ideas. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The average thriller, even if it's set in a faraway or futuristic world, tends to offer visceral, ephemeral excitement, and not much else. However, while Gattaca has the energy and tautness to compare with the best of those, its thought-provoking script and thematic richness elevate it to the next level. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubJohn Krewson
The film's bleak future society is admittedly nothing new, and there's no lack of contrived or wooden moments, but Gattaca's parable of nature versus nurture is compelling enough to make it worth seeing for reasons besides art direction. Read full review
80
VarietyEmanuel Levy
Gattaca, New Zealander helmer Andrew Niccol's impressive feature debut, is an intelligent and timely sci-fi thriller that, with the exception of some illogical plot contrivances, is emotionally engaging almost up to the end. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Andrew Niccol wrote and directed this intelligent and suspenseful science-fiction drama featuring strong performances by Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Alan Arkin, and Gore Vidal. Read full review
75
San Francisco ExaminerWalter Addiego
Gattaca is a welcome throwback to the days of good, low-tech sci-fi, stressing character and atmosphere over computer-generated effects and juvenile thrills. Read full review
70
SalonScott Rosenberg
Implausible in countless ways and wooden for long stretches, Gattaca at least never collapses into a special-effects barrage or erupts in long, choreographed explosions; it sticks carefully to its pristine vision. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyTy Burr
Sets, music, and imagery are rigorously controlled and undeniably stunning, but after a while flaws creep into the plot's double helix. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Designer babies rule dystopia in stylish SF thriller filled with recycled plot devices. Read full review
60
L.A. WeeklyManohla Dargis
Although that's enough plot for two movies, Niccol proceeds to clog up his meticulously mounted story with a murder and a romance (hence Uma Thurman), allowing needless intrigue to distract from his ideas. Read full review
60
The New YorkerMichael Sragow
Niccol's work is artful but self-important and thin. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
No aliens. No firefights in space. No robots. Just an eerily attractive, sleekly costumed cast in a stylish, cooly intelligent throwback to the Twilight Zone era of deeply serious science fiction. Read full review
60
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Although the movie has its moments -- particularly when our hero finds himself surrounded by a gimlet-eyed circle of futuristic detectives -- it's never really successful. Read full review
50
Washington PostRita Kempley
Gattaca may be all done up in new-fangled notions, but underneath all the guff about designer babies, it rests on a notion that was a staple of the original "Star Trek" series. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Clearly, an effort was made to create a serious, thoughtful movie. Read full review
40
EmpireNeil Jeffries
It's a great set-up but sadly the plot unfolds slowly and with little action, playing like a short story. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesJack Mathews
Niccol's script, which has the earnest simplicity of a freshman philosophy paper, is merely naked exploitation, a sci-fi snow job that projects a contemporary ethical question--would a perfect human be human?--into a solemn future where the worst-case scenario unfolds as conventional Hollywood melodrama. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
The moody images and Michael Nyman's score aren't enough to salvage this banal 1997 science fiction story. Read full review
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