Last Days in Vietnam
| Release Date: September 5, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
86
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicDec 14, 2014
It’s a searing series of accounts from dignified patriots, weary politicians, and desperate civilians stuck in a frantic situation, and a remarkable piece of work that should be seen by everyone who thinks they know everything about the Vietnam War. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoSep 25, 2014
A film of great sadness, but also a galvanizing depiction of heroism. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranSep 18, 2014
These stranger-than-fiction tales, piled one on top of the other in the most gripping way, not only mesmerize us, they also point up another of Last Days in Vietnam's provocative points, that the chaos surrounding the evacuation was, in effect, the entire war in microcosm. Read full review
100
Washington PostAnn HornadaySep 11, 2014
In Kennedy’s scrupulous, adroit hands, Last Days in Vietnam plays like a wartime thriller, with heroes engaging in jaw- dropping feats of ingenuity and derring do. Read full review
100
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireSep 5, 2014
Riveting, wrenching and extraordinarily important. Read full review
100
New York PostKyle SmithSep 3, 2014
That the story has largely gone untold is a shame, and Kennedy (daughter of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy) has done a service to the country in reminding us. Read full review
100
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlSep 2, 2014
Vital, illuminating, and terrifying, Rory Kennedy's Last Days in Vietnam probes with clarity and thoroughness one moment of recent American history that has too long gone unreckoned with. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloSep 3, 2014
It’s not a documentary that reinvents the form or will alter anyone’s perception of the war, but sometimes a rich, exhaustive chronicle is more than enough. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinSep 5, 2014
In sum, Last Days is the best kind of documentary — it ties you up in knots. Read full review
90
The New York TimesA.O. ScottSep 4, 2014
The story is full of emotion and danger, heroism and treachery, but it is told in a mood of rueful retrospect rather than simmering partisan rage. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJul 9, 2021
This isn’t a “big picture” movie in that doesn’t seek to answer questions that are beyond its limited scope but, within the parameters established by Kennedy and his writers, it leaves few stones unturned. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 2, 2014
We need films such as Kennedy's as a corrective. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeMark FeeneySep 18, 2014
At once riveting and heartbreaking. This youngest daughter of Robert F. Kennedy has the good sense — far rarer among documentarians than you’d like to think — not to get in the way of her material. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJordan HoffmanSep 4, 2014
This fact-driven doc is eye-opening and at times thrilling. A sequence following a chopper pilot trying to get his family to an American aircraft carrier is like a short film unto itself. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfSep 3, 2014
Provocatively, the film suggests that winning small battles was victory enough; Saigon natives, also interviewed, were left behind to endure death camps. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleLouis BlackOct 1, 2014
In every way, this is an enthralling but heartbreaking story, beautifully done. Read full review
70
The DissolveKeith PhippsSep 4, 2014
By turning her attention to an underreported chapter in recent history, Kennedy has found a trove rich with unreal imagery and stories of heroism in the face of defeat. Read full review
70
VarietyRob NelsonAug 25, 2014
The docu’s accomplished summary of tension-filled events as they transpired from minute to minute comes at the expense of wide-angle historical context. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 10, 2015
It’s omissions mean that it’s simply not the last word on the subject. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineSteve MacfarlaneSep 2, 2014
For American viewers who don't know, the doc will be a worthy footnote to a long bout of deliberate cultural amnesia, but it's too telling that the Vietnamese remain in the background. Read full review
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