Hell or High Water
CBS Films | Release Date: August 12, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
88
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 47 Critic Reviews
Positive:
46
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaAug 19, 2016
And Bridges? What's there to say about a man who makes it look so easy, and who - in one breathless, pivotal scene - runs through a range of emotion like a wild pony running across the land. Genius, any way you look at it. Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternAug 18, 2016
By turns funny, elegiac and thrilling, it’s a tale of brotherhood and family that takes in the harsh beauty of the land, the elusive nature of right and wrong and the quirky delights of human connections in a time of bewildering change. Read full review
100
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonAug 18, 2016
The year’s most exhilarating film. Read full review
100
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallAug 16, 2016
Hell or High Water is a terrific piece of entertainment.... It isn't a highbrow indie but a gritty work of art. Mackenzie's movie thrills for all the right reasons and will be fondly remembered at year's end. Read full review
100
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisAug 11, 2016
Furnished with faces as beaten as the vehicles the brothers drive and discard, Hell or High Water is a chase movie disguised as a western. Its humor is as dry as prairie dust...and its morals are steadfastly gray. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoAug 11, 2016
What Mackenzie has crafted here is a crowd-pleaser with undeniable art-house elements. Read full review
100
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinAug 11, 2016
This is the kind of Western in which we know there will be blood but pray there won’t be, because the violence is bound to be gratuitous, absurd, with a needless finality. Hell or High Water is a rare humanist Western: Finality is the true villain. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyAug 11, 2016
Hell or High Water isn’t a flashy movie, but it has an undeniably resonant sense of small-scale justice, not to mention an authentic sense of place that will remind you of other Texas-set masterpieces like John Sayles’ "Lone Star" and the Coen brothers’ "No Country for Old Men." See it, and then spread the word. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 11, 2016
With electrifying, graceful direction by David Mackenzie...a rich, darkly humorous and deeply insightful screenplay by Taylor Sheridan...and no fewer than four performances as good as anything I’ve seen onscreen this year, Hell or High Water is an instant classic modern-day Western, traveling down familiar roads but always, always with a fresh and original spin. Read full review
100
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 9, 2016
Foster was born to this kind of role, rugged but soulful, and he’s outstanding. The surprise is Pine, giving by far his best performance. Read full review
100
VarietyOwen GleibermanMay 20, 2016
Hell or High Water is a thrillingly good movie — a crackerjack drama of crime, fear, and brotherly love set in a sun-roasted, deceptively sleepy West Texas that feels completely exotic for being so authentic. Read full review
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerAug 26, 2016
A lean, efficient modern Western that is so satisfyingly constructed I’m tempted to say it’s just about perfect. There’s a special pleasure in watching a movie that knows exactly what it’s after and then, in scene after scene, gets it. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Aug 11, 2016
Hell Or High Water is the kind of movie that makes you fall in love again with the lost art of dialogue, getting you hooked anew on the snap of flavorful conversation. Read full review
90
We Got This CoveredBernard BooJan 21, 2017
Pulpy, old-fashioned Western action and terrific performances make Hell or High Water one of the most satisfying releases of the summer. Read full review
90
TimeStephanie ZacharekAug 18, 2016
Bridges knows just what he’s doing, and with the splendid West Texas waltz of a drama, Hell or High Water, British director David Mackenzie has given him the perfect hook on which to hang his hat. Read full review
90
TheWrapRobert AbeleAug 11, 2016
Hell or High Water is that rare offering that both feels old-fashioned in its action-thriller gratification and in-the-moment about everything else. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesGlenn WhippAug 11, 2016
That Hell or High Water makes you empathize with and understand (though not excuse) each member of this disparate quartet is a tribute to the way Taylor Sheridan’s screenplay works equally well as a thriller, character study and pointed social commentary. Read full review
90
Village VoiceDanny KingAug 9, 2016
When the movie just sits with the characters on front porches or in backyards, Mackenzie's generous, hands-off approach with his actors — most of the conversation scenes play out in long takes with minimal camera movement — yields poignant rewards. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 25, 2016
From a purely narrative perspective, there’s nothing new here but like a new arrangement of a familiar tune, the slight changes make it fresh and enjoyable. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerAug 18, 2016
Scenic, well-paced and rich in dialogue and character, the film is Coen brothers for the squares, and maybe the best middle-of-the-seat drama of the summer. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezAug 18, 2016
It’s ABOUT something, which has become a rarity in Hollywood pictures. Sometimes, the smallest stories cast the largest shadows. Read full review
88
The VergeTasha RobinsonAug 12, 2016
For all the methodical pacing and old archetypes, Hell or High Water is a thoroughly contemporary action film, complete with fast chases and flashes of dark comedy. But like the classic Westerns, it invites viewers to evaluate, one more time, the myth of the American outlaw, and the idea of criminals as heroes. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 11, 2016
Chris Pine proves he can act. Ben Foster, well, he always could. And Jeff Bridges shows them both how it's done. Those are just three riveting reasons to pony up for Hell or High Water. Read full review
88
Washington PostAnn HornadayAug 11, 2016
In a word, Hell or High Water is terrific. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrAug 11, 2016
The dialogue is terse and funny while hinting at much larger matters, such as the way poverty can be handed from generation to generation like a bad gene or a disease. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 11, 2016
What the movie has, above all, is a dramatic line, clean and straight. In its faces, its scenery and its plain satisfactions it makes us feel like we've been somewhere, when we get to the end of that line. Read full review
88
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldAug 11, 2016
In this bleak West Texas landscape where everyone seems to be struggling, you find yourself rooting, inexplicably, for all of them against a clear villain: the faceless, predatory bank. Read full review
88
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 9, 2016
A terrific heist picture. Read full review
83
ConsequenceRandall ColburnAug 10, 2016
A rich, complex drama that’s as much about consequence and justification as it is destiny. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnMay 20, 2016
Grounded in lively performances by Chris Pine and Ben Foster as a pair of bank-robbing brothers, with a capable assist from a no-nonsense Jeff Bridges as the sheriff on their tail, Hell or High Water tries nothing new but delivers a fun ride. Read full review
80
Total FilmKevin HarleyJan 21, 2017
Mackenzie goes western in satisfying style, while Bridges, Pine and Foster bring true grit to Sheridan’s tight script. Read full review
80
EmpireJimi FamurewaSep 5, 2016
Taut, tense and burnished by Jeff Bridges at his best. This is a deceptively simple tale of Texan cops and robbers that drags the Old West into the modern age. Read full review
80
ScreenCrushMatt SingerAug 11, 2016
The surprise standout is Chris Pine. Maybe because he possesses unfairly good looks and outrageous charisma, Pine hasn’t received much recognition as an actor. He is outstanding in Hell or High Water. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsStephen Whitty Aug 10, 2016
The terrific Hell or High Water is like a gritty new retelling of the Frank and Jesse James story — only with getaway cars instead of horses, and assault rifles replacing six-shooters. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyMay 20, 2016
As much as all four men are familiar types, the director, writer and actors imbue them with humanity, steering their arcs through tense action — including a nice throwback Western shootout on rocky terrain — to a quietly moving conclusion. Read full review
80
Screen DailyCharles GantMay 20, 2016
The film’s ace card is its intertwining of not one but two mismatched buddy relationships. Read full review
80
CineVueJohn BleasdaleMay 20, 2016
Despite treading some familiar territory, British director David Mackenzie's new film Hell or High Water proves itself a brilliantly executed, sharply written genre gem. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 20, 2016
It’s an action-thriller with punch; Bridges gives the characterisation ballast and heft and Pine and Foster bring a new, grizzled maturity to their performances. Read full review
80
The TelegraphTim RobeyMay 20, 2016
It has a straight-down-the-highway momentum, interesting stakes, and more textured character work than you can shake a stick at. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAug 10, 2016
Hell or High Water is a good but not great movie with sensational lead performances that elevate it to enjoyably memorable status. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle SmithAug 11, 2016
A desperado drama wrapped around a Bernie Sanders campaign speech, Hell or High Water overcomes its vapid political leanings with loads of West Texas atmosphere, smart dialogue and acutely observed relationships. Read full review
75
MTV NewsAmy NicholsonAug 11, 2016
This solid genre pic salutes its touchstones. Read full review
75
The Film StageRory O'ConnorMay 20, 2016
David McKenzie’s Hell or High Water is a gritty, darkly humorous, and fiendishly violent neo-western. Read full review
75
The PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicMay 20, 2016
Hell or High Water might walk over familiar ground with second-hand boots in terms of character development and structural beats, but it does so with great personality and zero pretension of wanting to be anything more. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiAug 12, 2016
While moviegoers desperate to see anything that doesn’t involve a superhero may be willing to overlook its shortcomings, others will undoubtedly be disappointed to find that it's somewhat less than the sum of its parts. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineJake ColeAug 9, 2016
As with Sicario, the broad strokes of the film's Southwestern stereotypes gradually sharpen into focus as the story pivots to a look at the systemic forces that shape the characters. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonAug 12, 2016
A film with a fistful of memorable moments—most of them involving Bridges hurling insults at people—but not a great deal new to say. Read full review
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