Standard Operating Procedure
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: April 25, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
23
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
With Standard Operating Procedure, the Iraq War finally has its Hearts And Minds. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Disturbing, analytical and morose. This is not a "political" film nor yet another screed about the Bush administration or the war in Iraq. It is driven simply, powerfully, by the desire to understand those photographs. Read full review
100
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Morris challenges us to understand what the pictures show and what they don't show, and to see them in context. And he confronts us with the most important question surrounding them: Do they reveal a crime, an aberration in the system or standard operating procedure? Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Morris, using a welter of photographs (many of which we haven't seen), constructs a day-to-day sense of how Abu Ghraib descended into a medieval hell. Read full review
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
At this late date there is little that is factually revelatory about his film, but as a human document of what people are capable of in wartime, it's indispensable. Read full review
91
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Standard Operating Procedure says that human nature abhors moral vacuums - but sometimes humans get sucked into them. Read full review
88
PremiereGlenn Kenny
It's distinctly Morrisean, as it were, and seeing his style applied to subject matter with which one is already somewhat familiar makes one... well, question the style a bit. Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
No matter how slick and questionably appropriate Morris's style may be, the content is compelling. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
It may be the most disturbing film you'll see in a long time. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
In Standard Operating Procedure, Errol Morris does something inconceivable and, at first glance, ill-advised. He gives the US soldiers of Abu Ghraib back their humanity. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Morris argues that the photos also functioned as a cover-up: prosecution of the case centered on them, leaving free and clear many of those higher up the chain of command. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Focus is really the heart of Morris' unsettling film, which strikes a remarkable balance between art and disturbance, between beauty and pain. Read full review
80
Film ThreatDon R. Lewis
Not only does Standard Operating Procedure look closely at visual evidence and it's true meaning, it also strives to question the validity of any given photo and, digging deeper still, the meta meaning of a photographic image. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
The ethical fallout, the lingering fog of the so-called war on terror, is not that people don't know what's wrong or who's guilty - it's precisely that they do, and count it as the cost of doing business. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Reveals one mystery, only to reveal another that it can't quite penetrate. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
In presenting their testimony to the jury of public opinion, Morris would seem to be building a case for absolving some of them of mistreatment charges and implicitly asking for an investigation of those who were not charged. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
Just because others bear blame for what went on doesn't mean they bore none, and while the deal they got was raw, they never lacked the ability to say no. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
It also leaves you pondering what you would have done if you had been one of the soldiers stationed there, fighting in an increasingly loony and surreal war. There but for the grace of God, and all that. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
A big, provocative and -- it goes without saying -- disturbing work, though what makes it most provocative is that its greatest ambitions are for its own visual style. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
While this does not strike me as the most urgent element of Standard Operating Procedure, Morris makes a persuasive case that many of the Abu Ghraib photos don't show us what we think they do, and that some of the episodes depicted were staged specifically to be photographed (and might not otherwise have occurred). Read full review
70
SlateDana Stevens
While Morris isn't interested in exonerating anyone, he clearly sympathizes to some degree with the MPs and deplores the military's fall-guy strategy, which punished these seven soldiers as exemplary "bad apples" while leaving all higher-ranking officers untouched. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
These people manage to convince us that the events at Abu Ghraib were standard operating procedure and not aberrant activities. Therein lies the horror of the movie – and also its banality. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
It's gut-grinding, to be sure. But a misjudged degree of cinematic dazzle obscures the outrages at the core of Standard Operating Procedure. Read full review
More From This Movie

70 Critic Reviews

7.6 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 71 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL