Navalny
CNN | Release Date: April 11, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonApr 29, 2022
The attitude of Mr. Navalny and his colleagues is fearless, in a country governed by fear. Thrillers are rarely so inspiring. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangApr 12, 2022
The geopolitical landscape has changed dramatically in the last few months since this sleek, smartly assembled and almost indecently entertaining movie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival (where it won two audience awards), and as a result, it can feel timely and outdated, relevant and redundant, disturbing and escapist all at once. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerApr 12, 2022
As the focus of the film, Navalny himself is a fascinating and complex figure, but Roher makes him explicable by focusing on his family, his recovery, his motivations and his growing realization that to change Russia for the better he has to risk his life. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoApr 22, 2022
Even after everything that Alexei Navalny exposed, he’s still behind bars, where it feels he will spend the rest of his life. "Navalny" is a film that can’t find justice for its subject. But it can expose the truth. Read full review
88
The Associated PressLindsey BahrApr 12, 2022
Navalny is so taut and suspenseful you’d think John le Carré had left behind a secret manuscript that’s only just coming to light now. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattApr 28, 2022
Navalny has a bracing, heart-racing story to tell, even as the improbable facts rush past. But it never fails to focus on the human man: funny, prickly, and unimaginably brave, down to the last defiant frame. Read full review
83
Original-CinLiam LaceyApr 25, 2022
Though it’s impossible not to see the documentary as a kind of prequel to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, on its own, Navalny is a lively, absorbing mix of original and archival footage with elements of real-life thriller set against the backdrop of the current disinformation wars. Read full review
83
The Film StageJohn FinkFeb 3, 2022
The geopolitical stakes are immense and Navalny is essential viewing, especially for any Western audience that may have not been following this story so closely. Read full review
80
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergApr 24, 2022
This documentary, directed by the Canadian filmmaker Daniel Roher (“Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band”), plays like a crowd-pleaser, a profile of a politician with the unflagging courage to swim against a rising totalitarian tide. It helps that Navalny has a movie star’s charisma and wit. Read full review
80
The TelegraphTim RobeyApr 15, 2022
Daniel Roher’s shrewd portrait makes the point that Navalny is half-politician, half-journalist; blending the two with his affable charisma on camera, which even extends to goofing off on TikTok, he has exactly the man-of-the-people touch that would be most likely to qualify him as a political threat. Read full review
80
EmpireJohn NugentApr 14, 2022
A remarkable, first-hand insight into how a modern-day police state operates, and how any kind of meaningful opposition can exist — as terrifying as it is hopeful. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeApr 12, 2022
It’s a genuinely exciting piece of storytelling, a propulsive real-life quest for truth driven by ingenious tech-geeks and the disarming force of Navalny’s personality. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 12, 2022
Grosev is all about data: by getting hold of passenger manifests, travel details or call records – and everything digital leaves a trace – he can put together an objective picture, even retrieving the culprits’ passport photos. It is quite staggering. Read full review
80
Film ThreatNorman GidneyJan 29, 2022
Roher is profoundly lucky to have been around when Navalny’s harrowing story needed to be told, and so are we. Read full review
80
VarietyOwen GleibermanJan 29, 2022
The film flashes back to the poisoning, and it could be the most sickening and calamitous suspense-thriller episode you ever saw. Read full review
80
The GuardianAdrian HortonJan 29, 2022
If you’re coming in with a blank slate, then Navalny is a feast of evermore unbelievable details and a window into a movement against a state of increasingly boldfaced, demeaning lies. Read full review
80
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganJan 29, 2022
This gripping, muscular piece is markedly immediate - like its subject, who lives for the moment, in the constant shadow of his own death. Read full review
80
SlashfilmBen PearsonJan 29, 2022
At a certain point, Navalny kicks into spy movie mode, detailing how that "Bulgarian nerd" utilizes data acquired from the dark web to pore over phone records and flight manifests to narrow down a possible list of suspects. It's riveting stuff. Read full review
80
Time OutPhil de SemlyenJan 28, 2022
Navalny is a barely believable brew of activism, resistance, poisonings, death squads, exiles and homecomings. Most of all, it’s a story of courage in the face of ruthless repression and one of those all-too-rare geopolitical stories where the bad guys actually get some comeuppance. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreApr 18, 2022
The portrait that emerges is that of a dogged, principled (by Russian standards) muckraker who exposes corruption in the Russian oligarchy, an accomplished TikTok/Youtube warrior who uses such platforms to broadcast his exposes and organize his movement since most Russian media are afraid to cover him. Read full review
75
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJan 29, 2022
Whatever their respective agendas, Navalny finds subject and filmmaker alike bound together by the shared belief that authoritarian governments are as scared of their people as their people are of them, and the documentary is galvanized by the spectacle of Putin shitting his pants. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDaniel FienbergJan 29, 2022
This is an incredibly charismatic man with a finely honed sense of his public image, but Roher is also able to capture how prickly he is. Read full review
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