Small Axe: Red, White and Blue
Amazon Prime Video | Release Date (Streaming): December 4, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
84
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
CineVueLucy PopescuNov 29, 2020
McQueen and Newland’s assured script grips from the start and keeps us deeply involved in the characters’ fates. Read full review
100
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 3, 2020
Boyega carries the film with a compelling authority of his own. Read full review
91
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonOct 3, 2020
Tonally, McQueen and co-writer Courttia Newland’s screenplay flits capably between character study, issue film, and cop drama so seamlessly you’ll barely notice it’s changed gears, and at eighty minutes there’s not an ounce of fat on it. Read full review
90
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisDec 10, 2020
Some of Red, White and Blue is hard to watch, but the film is eloquent on how an institution will resist change, perhaps especially from inside its own walls. Read full review
90
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeOct 3, 2020
It’s a slower burn than those other two “Small Axe” entries, but it builds to a final scene between Boyega and Toussaint that’s quiet but shattering. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comOdie HendersonOct 5, 2020
Red, White and Blue got under my skin in ways I was not expecting. McQueen uses the police procedural format to interrogate what it’s like to be the only Black person in a hostile and racist job environment. Read full review
85
SlashfilmHoai-Tran BuiOct 5, 2020
It is difficult and uneasy, and often feels more punishing than entertaining. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Oct 13, 2020
Red, White And Blue is stark and straightforward, further proof that McQueen has distinguished each entry in his bold foray into small-screen storytelling. Read full review
83
The PlaylistRobert DanielsOct 3, 2020
Boyega is superhuman here. Because no matter the decade, Logan isn’t an easy character to understand with regards to decision making. Yet Boyega’s sincerity holds us in this story, even when we can’t fully understand the why behind Logan. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnOct 3, 2020
McQueen’s gripping true-life drama compensates for some of its more heavy-handed beats thanks to Boyega’s staggering, career-best performance and the fiery tone that surrounds it at every turn. The movie is both a ferocious indictment and a call to action that embodies Logan’s cause, even if it’s doomed from the start. Read full review
80
EmpireHanna FlintDec 17, 2020
McQueen serves up an awe-inspiring, visceral reflection of London’s torrid history of racial prejudice and police brutality, while John Boyega gives a career-best performance dripping with power and passion. Read full review
80
Rolling StoneK. Austin CollinsDec 10, 2020
Here’s McQueen working in one of his most exciting modes as a director: cool anger. In contrast to the passionate political thrust of of Mangrove and the heated groove of Lovers Rock, Red, White, and Blue is wrought of images that feel clinical and removed — until you mash them together into a movie. That’s when the hellmouth cracks open, and all the seeming poise at the movie’s surface is revealed for the disguise that it is. The studied symmetries, the visual confrontations marked along racial lines, all of it is expressive, and much of it works. Read full review
80
IGNSiddhant AdlakhaDec 3, 2020
A timely, powerful piece about the slow road to progress, and the nuances of fighting broken systems from within. Read full review
80
VoxAlissa WilkinsonNov 19, 2020
There are many obvious reasons why Red, White and Blue feels timely, but perhaps the greatest one is that it depicts the tricky dynamics Leroy experiences among his superiors. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyOct 5, 2020
Making a unique police drama in itself is a considerable achievement. Red, White and Blue earns that distinction partly through its skilled avoidance of the standard beats of stories about rookie cops chafing against the establishment. But it's also a direct result of Logan's remarkable qualities as a real-life protagonist that enable it to transcend conventional bio-drama. Read full review
75
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenDec 10, 2020
In only 80 minutes, Red, White and Blue tries to tackle a lot of Logan’s life (his relationships with his parents, his wife, colleagues, and wayward kids on the beat) and as such can feel a bit scattered. It’s the only Small Axe installment that feels like it might have worked better as its own series. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanOct 5, 2020
Yet Red, White and Blue mostly lacks the gritty period flavor of the other Small Axe films. It’s a little glossed over. The (minor) daring of the movie is its downbeat narrative. It’s structured like the air seeping out of a tire, so that it presents us with a character of idealistic strength, commitment, and personal heroism only to plop him into a set of circumstances that won’t allow him to be a hero. Read full review
67
The Film StageVikram MurthiOct 13, 2020
Generally speaking, Red, White and Blue succeeds whenever the film deviates from the message and showcases spontaneous and unfettered life. Read full review
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