Papillon
Bleecker Street | Release Date: August 24, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
17
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 23, 2018
It is an impressively staged and appropriately rain-soaked, mud-splattered, bone-crunching tale, more violent and filled with rougher language than its predecessor, if not quite as powerful or moving. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorAug 23, 2018
As director Michael Noer struggles to tease a theme out of a string of exploits, Papillon remains as entertaining as ever. Read full review
75
The Film StageJared MobarakMay 22, 2018
Noer isn’t interested in the pulpy, wannabe mythic journey of Papillon when there’s a meatier through-line highlighting our humanity in dire straits. Rather than make his film about how far our bodies can go, he seeks to portray the lengths are hearts will. Read full review
70
Village VoiceBilge EbiriAug 21, 2018
This new version, directed by Danish filmmaker Michael Noer, brings to the story a refreshing intensity and sweep, and even a sense of adventure. Read full review
70
VarietyDennis HarveyMay 22, 2018
On its own terms, Noer’s adventure is ultimately a dramatic and dynamic-enough telling of an indelible fact-based story to connect with viewers. Read full review
67
Original-CinJim SlotekAug 23, 2018
Even as a reboot, it remains both scenically beautiful and an ordeal at the same time. Read full review
67
Paste MagazineDom SinacolaAug 23, 2018
It’s true that no one’s really making films like this anymore, but it’s also true that everyone pretty much wants to. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiAug 22, 2018
If you’re a fan of the two leads, it is worth your time, but if you’re a fan of the original film, it becomes more of a curio, an interesting comparison of filmmaking in the Seventies to what contemporary cinema gives us today. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 23, 2018
Hunnam’s reliably charismatic in suffering and in joy, but with most of the political and wartime context shaved off the story, once again, we’re left with the basics. Read full review
63
The Associated PressLindsey BahrAug 23, 2018
A sumptuous-looking but slow-moving prison drama that at times will have you dreaming about an escape of your own. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonAug 23, 2018
Mr. Malek gives an eccentric performance, but he won’t make anyone forget Dustin Hoffman, whose original Dega was an endearing coward, a fatalist and a masterpiece. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghAug 23, 2018
What we see onscreen instead is mere competence, handsomely shot but bereft of purpose. One gets the sense that it was remade for no other reason than because more tolerant 21st-century content standards mean you can spill a man’s guts onscreen. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfAug 22, 2018
Amazingly, the remake—by Danish director Michael Noer—is nearly as long and equally as depressing. But he’s made a slightly more exciting movie. Read full review
60
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 22, 2018
Papillon pushes too hard with diminishing returns. Though Hunnam and Malek give it everything they’ve got, they’re denied the chance to make their characters as indelible as McQueen and Hoffman did. Read full review
60
The GuardianCharles BramescoMay 22, 2018
Hunnam and Malek both hold up their end of the deal. Noer, for his part, meets them halfway by conjuring golden-hued beauty for the jungle surroundings and a due griminess for the danker chambers of their holding compound. He doesn’t overcomplicate things for himself, keeping the clunky dialogue to a minimum and focusing on the guiding light of Papi’s indomitable willpower. Read full review
58
Film Journal InternationalDoris ToumarkineAug 23, 2018
Charlie Hunnam as Parisian safecracker Henri “Papillon” Charrière and Rami Malek as his pal-in-hell, counterfeiter Louis Dega, were sorely in need of richer characters written (or directed?) with more complexity, coloring, backstory, tics, or whatever might humanize them more. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoAug 24, 2018
For despite how much I liked about Hunnam’s work here, I could never completely engage with Papillon given how little it adds to the story that’s already been told and the overdone genre of humans surviving outright torture. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleAug 23, 2018
Hunnam makes a strong impression as a tough guy in the title role, but there’s something about either him or the filmmaking or the subject matter that allows viewers to resist making his problems our problems. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesMichael RechtshaffenAug 23, 2018
What’s missing is a more personal directorial imprint. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyAug 22, 2018
As for the new Papillon, it wisely doubles down on high adventure, but it’s still as lifeless as its predecessor. Just in different ways. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChuck BowenAug 20, 2018
This remake proffers the sort of cinematic nowhere place that's all too common of an increasingly corporate, globalized cinema. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonMay 22, 2018
The remake of Papillon doesn’t lack for potential metaphorical riches, yet this brutal, bruising film never quite connects with its deeper themes, resulting in a story full of suffering but not enough transcendence. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawDec 25, 2018
Just as in the book, the memorable part of this story is its ripe black-comic business. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Simran HansDec 25, 2018
At a slow two hours plus, the film feels stretched. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla DargisAug 22, 2018
Mr. Hunnam isn’t yet a movie star, and given current industry trends (big-studio cartoons, superhero flicks, etc.) might never get that chance. His talent is for quiet, unshowy moments, not leading-man grand gestures and important speeches. Read full review
40
TheWrapRobert AbeleAug 22, 2018
This Papillon just lopes from place to place, and indignity to indignity, without any special style or verve. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerMay 22, 2018
There’s no real voice in the storytelling, nothing distinctive about the imagery, if it’s not a doubling up on the violence and gore, and the result doesn’t remotely resonate in the same way. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 24, 2018
But for all the period detail, characters are a little too healthy and well-scrubbed to be convincing and the actual look of the film is video-flat and dull — ugly. Read full review
38
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiAug 22, 2018
The story is far less gripping than the consistency of the hunky lead actor’s facial hair. For most of the two hours or so, the beard is perfect. Frozen in time. Read full review
37
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanAug 21, 2018
The only real crime here is the debasement of a great film’s name. Read full review
25
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthMay 22, 2018
With no unique viewpoint on the story of its own, it’s perplexing why Papillon went in front of cameras at all. Read full review
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