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
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
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