Red Army
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: November 14, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
32
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaFeb 27, 2015
It's a story of global consequences and historic proportions, and of astounding athleticism and synchronicity - and filmmaker Polsky ices it. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisFeb 5, 2015
Director Gabe Polsky masterfully documents Fetisov’s triumphs — and sorrows. Read full review
100
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireJan 23, 2015
Emotionally charged, viscerally exciting and consistently enlightening, Gabe Polsky’s Red Army is a sports documentary like no other. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyJan 21, 2015
Thanks to Gabe Polsky's enthralling new documentary, we finally get to see these athletes for who they really were—it humanizes a group of men who were cast by history in the role of villains. Read full review
100
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonNov 11, 2014
Red Army is a riveting look behind the Iron Curtain. Read full review
90
The New York TimesA.O. ScottNov 13, 2014
Good sports movies are always about more than sports... Red Army touches on themes of friendship and perseverance, and also offers a compact and vivid summary of recent Russian history. Read full review
88
Washington PostAnn HornadayFeb 5, 2015
In this swift, smart, often very funny film, Polsky takes an unprecedented look at the legendary Soviet-era hockey program and its life after glasnost, exposing an athletic system that became a crucial symbol of Communist history and politics, but also discipline, grace and brooding, melancholy soul. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperFeb 5, 2015
In Gabe Polsky’s Red Army, the Iron Curtain surrounding the Soviet dynasty is pulled back to reveal an immensely effective but dehumanizing machine in which hockey served as an important propaganda tool, resulting in some of the most impressive teams ever to take the ice. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversJan 21, 2015
Red Army deserves a big boo-yah from audiences for being illuminating and hugely entertaining. And if some of the talk is in Russian, live with it. Read full review
83
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallMar 12, 2015
Gabe Polsky's movie about the dynastic Soviet Union hockey team is surprisingly light on its skates, despite being a Cold War history lesson and conventional sports documentary. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianJeff BakerFeb 27, 2015
Fetisov is a jovial, imperious guide through an era of Cold War politics, when sports were a battleground between East and West and no sport was more important to the Soviets than hockey. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJan 30, 2015
Audiences knowing nothing about hockey will still be able to appreciate this movie as a somewhat jaunty take on the cold war and its aftermath – and resurgence. A curious kind of cold-war nostalgia can be felt in the West these days; President Vladimir Putin is the kind of comprehensible villain Americans feel comfortable with. Read full review
83
The PlaylistErik McClanahanJan 22, 2015
If there is a big complaint to lodge against the film, at least for those with some foreknowledge of the team’s history, it’s too short. There’s so much great material and history to explore with the Soviet team that the film could easily have been a five-hour miniseries and would be even better. Read full review
83
HitfixDrew McWeenySep 19, 2014
Gabe Polsky has made a smart and incisive film about an important moment in the history of a now-fallen empire, and he happened to make it wildly entertaining as well. No easy feat. Read full review
80
EmpirePhil de SemlyenOct 5, 2015
The interviews are as entertaining as the slick interplay on the ice. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 5, 2015
Polsky keeps things lively, both visually and with his editing. But the sometimes-lighthearted approach never undermines the serious business at hand. It enhances it. Read full review
80
TheWrapInkoo KangJan 23, 2015
Red Army is a thoughtful and cheer-worthy examination of how sports can shape cultures, redraw borders and change history. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJan 22, 2015
Red Army is about many things — politics and sport, service and servitude, integrity trumped by money. Most memorably, though, it celebrates a good man living a great life by his own lights. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranJan 22, 2015
Polsky's treatment of this material is nothing if not entertaining, including lively visuals like placing a tiny bouncing hammer and sickle over song lyrics, and his ability to apply a lively style to serious subject matter is key to Red Army's success. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriNov 17, 2014
Gabe Polsky's ingenious, touching documentary Red Army looks at the other side of this myth, the seemingly faceless, allegedly robotic players who made up the Soviet team. There, Polsky finds a story even more epic and powerful than the Miracle on Ice. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsGraham FullerNov 12, 2014
You don’t have to be a sports fan or a Cold War buff to relish the compelling political investigation and fierce rink action in this brisk, terrific movie. Read full review
80
VarietyJustin ChangSep 19, 2014
The strength of Red Army lies in its deep appreciation for the many ironies of the situation, the bone-deep complexities of national identity, and the fact that, on some level, home will always be home. Read full review
80
CineVueJohn BleasdaleSep 19, 2014
Polsky keeps Red Army driving forward and the result is a film as fast-paced and bloody-minded as the sport it celebrates. Read full review
80
The GuardianHenry BarnesSep 19, 2014
Red Army is executive produced by Werner Herzog and Polsky borrows some his impishness. He makes sport of the old guard's rebuffs, glories in the occasion when Fetisov gives him the finger. This, he seems to say, is the attitude that made these guys. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterStephen DaltonSep 19, 2014
Red Army is a slick, witty, fast-moving blend of sports story and history lesson. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovMar 18, 2015
The U.S. won the Olympic gold, but as seen here, the Russians’ story is by far the more genuinely Olympian, making this a handy victory over all previously told accounts of that so-called miracle. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyMar 12, 2015
Fetisov, who looks like a cross between Sam Neill and Klaus Kinski, is a compelling figure. He has an unmistakable gravitas. He’s just a hockey player in the way that Reagan was just an actor. In fact, Fetisov is a member of Russia’s parliament and previously served as minister of sport. If all that weren’t enough, he has a winningly dry sense of humor. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerJan 29, 2015
Red Army ends with Fetisov back in Russia, as a politician. Despite the sometimes shabby way in which he was treated by an authoritarian hockey regime, he says he “never had more fun than playing with those five guys.” Once a comrade. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubDavid EhrlichNov 12, 2014
If Miracle can be thought of as "Flags Of Our Fathers: On Ice," Red Army is its "Letters From Iwo Jima." Gabe Polsky’s film humanizes the players of the Soviet Union national team, who were humiliated by a ragtag crew of amateur college kids during the most internationally politicized game in the history of American sports. Read full review
75
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeNov 12, 2014
The Soviet era is more interesting than the NHL years, but still, the film is entertaining even for ardent nonfans. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineKenji FujishimaNov 10, 2014
Gabe Polsky's quiet yet welcome achievement is to allow us to see the individual amid the politics, clearly and sympathetically. Read full review
70
The DissolveNoel MurrayJan 22, 2015
If nothing else, this film makes the case that the Cold War—however Fetisov or Polsky respectively choose to define it—robbed American sports fans of the chance to watch and appreciate one of the greatest collections of athletes ever assembled. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMar 20, 2015
A fast-moving, fascinating and at times even fun documentary residing squarely at the intersection of sports, geopolitics and history. Read full review
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