Hyena
Tribeca Film | Release Date: May 1, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
56
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
8
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
EmpireKim NewmanMar 5, 2015
Writer-director Gerard Johnson and chameleon-like star Ferdinando continue to impress with their strong collaboration here. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonTrevor JohnstonMar 5, 2015
Hyena is startling, claustrophobic and penetrating in its analysis of the blurred lines involved in doing good. Read full review
75
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezMar 5, 2015
Seedy, unsettling and nightmarish, director Gerard Johnson crafts a suspenseful and anxious journey despite the destination pointing to obvious points well known. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesMartin TsaiApr 30, 2015
Writer-director Gerard Johnson resists all impulses to please the crowd. The graphic sex and violence never feel gratuitous, and there's something interesting in the way he deliberately denies his characters and the viewers any reprieve. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonApr 30, 2015
The visuals are kinetic, the pacing frenetic; the violence, or at least its aftermath, doesn’t just border on the excessive, it makes major incursions. But given the criminal milieu at hand, nothing less would have seemed plausible, or equal to the heightened, sordid sensibility Mr. Johnson creates in the film’s opening moments and maintains right up to an ending that is among the more perverse in recent memory. Read full review
70
Village VoiceAaron HillisApr 28, 2015
The film's convoluted moral trajectory to hell may be as unoriginal as quoting Taxi Driver, and the pervasive violent menace can be needlessly punishing (including a drugged sexual assault), but as stylish, scorched-earth entertainment, it'll get you in its teeth. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloApr 29, 2015
A few dreamy interludes aside, the film’s tone is cool, dispassionate, and matter-of-fact. All that’s missing is a reason to give a damn. Read full review
60
VarietyGuy LodgeApr 28, 2015
What Hyena lacks in invention, however, it makes up for in technical bravado and geographical specificity. Read full review
60
The DissolveScott TobiasApr 28, 2015
There’s nothing out of order here—the locales are appropriately dingy and atmospheric, the lead character is compellingly rotten, the plot tightens to a vise squeeze in the third act—but every beat that isn’t provided by The The strikes exactly where it’s expected. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawMar 5, 2015
The movie moves on to some grandstanding moments, before finally painting itself into a corner. The ending is frustrating: it runs out of ideas before the final credits. But Johnson packs an almighty punch. Read full review
60
Total FilmMatt GlasbyMar 5, 2015
Hyena may be grim, but it’s also grimly engrossing in a way that gets under the skin. Read full review
60
CineVueEd FranklMar 5, 2015
Gerard Johnson's sophomore feature might look on the outset like the type of London crime thriller usually populated by Jason Statham, but it's more emotionally complex than its outset gives it credit for. Read full review
50
The New York TimesStephen HoldenApr 30, 2015
The strongest elements of this film, which adds nothing new to the subgenre, are its atmospheric, smeared-lipstick cinematography and Mr. Ferdinando’s portrayal of an arrogant, double-dealing crook. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterNeil YoungApr 28, 2015
When in doubt, the director cranks up the assaultively reverberant score from po-faced '80s rockers The The (aka Matt Johnson, the director's brother), which at least provides intermittent pep to this increasingly torpid wallow in the moral mud. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyMar 5, 2015
Hyena doesn’t stint on creating a grubbily repellent universe, but it never gives us one solid reason to stick around. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiMay 1, 2015
Hyena is such a nasty and brutish item that even the hardiest of moviegoers may find themselves repulsed by some of the sights that Johnson has in store. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineKenji FujishimaApr 27, 2015
The Gerard Johnson film's blanket cynicism is its most shopworn quality of all. Read full review
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