Sabotage
Open Road Films | Release Date: March 28, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
41
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
15
Negative:
11
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 27, 2014
This brutal, bloody, dark and at times gruesomely funny thriller isn’t some David Fincher-esque mood piece where all the clues come together at the end. It’s more like a modern-day, Georgia version of a spaghetti Western. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianStephen WhittyMar 27, 2014
So Ayer, the director of the new Sabotage, does it smartly, subtly, by keeping some of the Schwarzenegger totems -- the masculine power, the enormous armory, the drainpipe-sized cigars -- and raising the quality of the surroundings. Read full review
70
Village VoiceChris KlimekApr 1, 2014
This is the disreputable, even disgusting diversion the Expendables pictures should've been. Read full review
67
HitfixDrew McWeenyApr 18, 2014
There's a great sense of rot to everything as shot by Bruce McCleery, and David Sardy's score is propulsive and appropriately caustic. What ultimately works about Sabotage is the way it so unabashedly plays rough. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 31, 2014
For most of its running length, Sabotage is a gritty, compelling motion picture with twists to make a pretzel envious. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriMar 31, 2014
For Sabotage, as good as it is in its first half, can’t keep it together. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith UhlichMar 28, 2014
You’re thankful when Ayer stops trying to artistically tart up this Peckinpah-lite tale of vengeance and just lets his leading man do what he does best: blow the bad guys away. Read full review
60
The DissolveMatt SingerMar 27, 2014
Sabotage’s mystery component is mostly dead on arrival, and poor Olivia Williams has the thankless job of carrying it as the no-nonsense detective searching for the killer. But as Ayer proved with his previous film, End Of Watch, he has a natural eye and ear for the ecosystem of law enforcement. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattMar 28, 2014
You won't respect yourself in the morning, but you might have some dumb, lizard-brain fun. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerDavid HiltbrandMar 28, 2014
This is the type of movie best enjoyed as a late-night indulgence on cable. Really late at night, when your eyes are still partially open, but your brain has called it quits. Read full review
50
VarietyScott FoundasMar 27, 2014
The rest of Sabotage rarely rises to Schwarzenegger’s level, in large measure because the other characters (of which there are far too many) aren’t nearly as sharply drawn by Ayer and co-writer Skip Woods. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsMar 27, 2014
This is an extremely gory flick, with autopsy scenes to complement Schwarzenegger’s usual shoot-first sensibilities. After 30 years, it’s pointless to complain about the collateral damage in his movies, but here Schwarzenegger is taking vigilante justice to dark new levels that can only be reached via plot holes big enough for a Hummer. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMar 27, 2014
Sabotage cannot be called a good movie, not with a straight face. But as an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, it has something. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 27, 2014
The movie wants it both ways: bloodthirsty revenge and some finger-wagging about the tactics. Read full review
42
The PlaylistMark ZhuravskyMar 27, 2014
Sabotage is perfectly acceptable by it's peculiar standards, the action skillfully rendered but the scarcity of character development and perplexing ethics make the picture an uneasy watch. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyMar 26, 2014
David Ayer’s latest, Sabotage, is a sloppy DEA whodunit, distinguished by its scatological humor and gore. Read full review
40
CineVueAmon WarmannMay 21, 2014
Arnie completists will enjoy seeing the Austrian Oak in good form, but as a whodunit thriller Sabotage is found severely wanting. Read full review
40
EmpireSimon CrookMay 5, 2014
A bloody, scuzzy, progressively preposterous whodunnit, blending old school and new wave to neutering effect. One chunky plus: the all-new Antihero Arnie. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleMar 27, 2014
Artificially jacked up to feel like mean but serious fun, Sabotage mostly flings blood, vengeance, testosterone and clichés to the wall to see what sticks. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 27, 2014
Director David Ayer is using the blood and guts to make a point about the insane violence committed by drug cartels, yes, but the bloodshed is unrelenting and, ultimately, exhausting. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiMar 28, 2014
This could well be the single most implausible film playing at your multiplex this weekend and bear in mind, "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" is still in release. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineChris CabinMar 27, 2014
There's no sense of visual artifice to match the ludicrous pitch of the script, and subsequently, the film comes off as awkward and uncertain. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeTy BurrMar 27, 2014
Stupid, sadistic, misogynistic, confusing, and more than a little ridiculous. Here’s the thing, though: It keeps you watching, if only to see how tortured the plot or characters are going to get. I’m not sure that “entertainingly awful” is a recommendation, but the shoe fits. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle SmithMar 27, 2014
So Arnold Schwarzenegger has reached the shaky-cam-and-hoodies stage of his career. But it’s a bit late in the day for Arnold to try to get all indie and complicated. Read full review
37
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMar 27, 2014
Sabotage doesn’t exactly glorify violence, but it certainly does get off on it. Read full review
30
The New York TimesManohla DargisMar 27, 2014
Sabotage isn’t any good, even if its jagged, jolting visual excesses and frenzied energy keep you awake, gasping and guffawing by turns. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyMar 27, 2014
What's most remarkable about this big, dumb exploitation movie is how carefully anything approaching psychological texture appears to have been peeled away. Read full review
25
USA TodayScott BowlesMar 27, 2014
Indisputably the most violent film of the year and disputably the worst. Read full review
25
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMar 27, 2014
Watching this head-slappingly stupid movie is an exercise is seeing David Ayer sucked into the drain that Arnold’s been spiraling down ever since his “comeback.” Read full review
11
Austin ChronicleLouis BlackMar 26, 2014
The violence is always vicious, the catalog of brutally attacked, pornographically bloody bodies is unending, and despite the abundance of action the film is terribly dull. Read full review
10
Film.comJordan HoffmanMar 27, 2014
Does this mean that Sabotage is a rich, morally complex story about the gray zone between good and evil? Hell, no. It just means it is a bungle. Read full review
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