London Road
BBC Worldwide North America | Release Date: September 9, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The GuardianPeter BradshawJul 22, 2016
London Road was a mighty success on stage. Now it is a unique triumph on the movie screen. Read full review
100
Time Out LondonDave CalhounJul 22, 2016
It’s enthralling and haunting. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloSep 7, 2016
As pop sociology, London Road doesn’t delve terribly deep, repeating the same simple observations (principally: people are self-interested) over and over. As a nearly avant-garde musical, however, it’s a constant grin-conjuring marvel. Read full review
90
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisSep 8, 2016
The artifice of the form works something wondrous with the material, highlighting the generic nature of our response to extreme violence. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterStephen DaltonJul 25, 2016
As gripping onscreen as it was onstage, London Road remains a work of great finesse and originality. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzNov 17, 2016
Once Rufus Norris’s film gets going, it quickly reveals itself as a vibrant, almost revolutionary work. Shame, though, that Tom Hardy is only onscreen for a single scene – though his intentionally nerve-racked warbles prove once and for all that he’s a master vocal manipulator. Read full review
88
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenOct 13, 2016
All in all, a brilliant piece of work. Read full review
80
CineVueJamie NeishJul 22, 2016
The film doesn't simply work, it trumps expectation and lingers long in the mind. Read full review
80
EmpireAnna SmithJul 22, 2016
All cast and crew do an impressive job in making this unlikely proposition such an engaging, thought-provoking and darkly funny watch. Read full review
75
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeSep 8, 2016
The result — directed by Rufus Norris and setting words collected by Alecky Blythe against music by Adam Cork — is mesmerizing. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangSep 15, 2016
This enchantingly strange movie couldn’t possibly be called naturalistic, but at times, it feels somewhat disappointingly normalized. Read full review
70
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganJul 25, 2016
It can feel as if London Road is making the same point throughout, and in the same way – some thematic depth might have added bolster to the film’s dazzling artistic heft. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 9, 2016
I can’t say it all works, and there’s an epilogue that plays as more insipid than biting. But it’s a daring piece to put on the stage, even more daring to commit to film. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyJul 22, 2016
An artistic spin on tragedy that’s deft, witty, very well-acted, and more diverting than it is profound. Read full review
50
Washington PostPat PaduaSep 15, 2016
London Road comes across as no more than tabloid karaoke. Read full review
50
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeSep 9, 2016
As a 20-minute short or even a 50-minute TV program, London Road might maintain its sharpness and its potency, but as a feature film, its cleverness wears a bit thin and its messaging gets too overblown. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzSep 9, 2016
They all ultimately seem as if they are participating in a dubious enterprise, devised by gifted individuals who somehow can't take a big picture view of a story that would seem to demand one. London Road is brilliant in all the wrong ways. Read full review
50
VarietyGuy LodgeJul 25, 2016
There’s an over-compensatory fussiness to its most elaborate formal conceits, with the gradual shifting of the pic’s palette from desaturated December grays to iridescent oil-pastel tones a crude symbolic device. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattSep 8, 2016
The result, alas, is totally bolloxed, as a Brit might say, by execution. Read full review
42
The PlaylistGary GarrisonJul 25, 2016
London Road, on stage and celluloid, is an experiment likely to fall flat outside of the most devoted of cinephiles (and theatergoers), but an exciting one nonetheless, even if only for its boldness. Read full review
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