Omar
Adopt Films | Release Date: February 21, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
23
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
CineVueLucy PopescuMay 30, 2014
This is political cinema at its best; intelligent, thought-provoking and utterly absorbing. Bakri is a star in the making and delivers an electrifying performance. Read full review
91
IndieWireEric KohnFeb 20, 2014
Omar maintains an unsettling rhythm of suspense and sociopolitical critique throughout. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianMarc MohanFeb 20, 2014
A volatile film. But it's not a specifically political one. With only superficial alteration, it could be set in Cold War Berlin, or colonial Boston, or any time and place where the dynamics of power conspire to create an atmosphere of paranoia and mistrust. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyFeb 19, 2014
With the exception of Waleed F. Zuaiter, who does a remarkable good-cop act as an Israeli agent, the cast is composed of first-time actors who bring realism to a tragic story. It manages to punch you in the gut and break your heart at the same time. Read full review
90
SalonAndrew O'HehirFeb 20, 2014
If Alfred Hitchcock had grown up as a Palestinian, he might have made something like Hany Abu-Assad’s Oscar-nominated Omar, which is a tender love story, a haunting tragedy and an expertly crafted thriller with flawed, damaged and not entirely likable characters. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyFeb 21, 2014
Omar is a thriller and a romance, with unabashedly melodramatic elements (there's even a love triangle), all of which are brought into stark relief by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineTomas HachardJan 16, 2014
What Omar best portrays are the limitations that result from having an occupation, and the fight to overthrow it, dominate a person's entire life. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzFeb 27, 2014
Abu-Assad does a masterful job of showing, in these seemingly hopeless circumstances, the fragility of life. Read full review
80
NPRBob MondelloFeb 21, 2014
It's the sort of film that feels so authentic that even knowing it's a fiction, the morning after seeing it, I found myself scanning headlines to see if there were any new developments. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyFeb 20, 2014
What happens when Omar is outside the prison walls, and how his world and his relationships are reshaped by the realities of broken trust and betrayal, make for gripping and heartbreaking watching. Read full review
80
VarietyJay WeissbergJan 16, 2014
Deliberately ambiguous in how it approaches the inexorable nexus of violence, Omar will trouble those looking for condemnation rather than the messiness of humanity. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrMar 13, 2014
The movie lands like a punch. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerFeb 28, 2014
The film works best as a straightforward melodrama set in an anything but straightforward world. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyFeb 27, 2014
Whether Omar will ultimately serve to change or harden hearts remains ambiguous, though it’s a movie that’s entertaining enough to appeal to the kinds of ordinary kids we see in the movie. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesMary HoulihanFeb 27, 2014
A cast of mostly first-time actors shade the film with a touching realism. Bakri offers a masterful performance, portraying Omar as kind and easygoing while also tamping down those traits in an atmosphere of suspicion and betrayal. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaFeb 21, 2014
Bakri, a newcomer to acting, has presence and power. His intensity and determination become Omar's. Read full review
75
The PlaylistGabe ToroFeb 20, 2014
This is easily more exciting and tense than any genre film 2014 has seen thus far. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezFeb 20, 2014
Like most movies about the Middle East conflict, Omar is ultimately about the futility of violence and how it feeds on itself. Read full review
75
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeFeb 19, 2014
Omar eventually becomes a sun-scorched neo-noir — and the fade-out is an unforgettable jolter. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. ScottFeb 20, 2014
Mr. Abu-Assad shows a world from which all trust has vanished, where every relationship carries the possibility — perhaps the inevitability — of betrayal and where every form of honor is corroded by lies. Read full review
70
The DissolveJordan HoffmanFeb 20, 2014
Given that this is a film about a very specific political situation, with lifetimes of scholarship and signifiers behind it, writer-director Hany Abu-Assad made a bold decision in pulling back and going broad. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungJan 16, 2014
Abu-Assad and his cinematographer Ehab Assal have every shot under control and rarely need to go overboard to convey a strong emotion. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayFeb 20, 2014
Omar feels as trapped and enmeshed in hopelessness as the vicious political cycle it depicts. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierFeb 20, 2014
The movie grips us partly because Bakri’s performance is alternately casual and calculated. Read full review
60
Time OutDavid FearFeb 18, 2014
Bakri has charisma to burn, but the complexity of Abu-Assad’s previous movies is traded in for weak genre thrills. Read full review
60
Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonJan 16, 2014
The movie is so brisk, even-handed, and realpolitik you're never quite sure if it has anything to say. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubBen KenigsbergFeb 19, 2014
Knotty and tense for most of its running time, Omar becomes muddled in its closing minutes, conflating personal and political treachery. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoFeb 20, 2014
the movie comes perilously close to implicitly justifying the killing that sparked the plot - a killing, by the way, that is close to senseless. Read full review
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