Taxi to the Dark Side
THINKFilm | Release Date: January 18, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
This movie does not describe the America I learned about in civics class, or think of when I pledge allegiance to the flag. Yet I know I will get the usual e-mails accusing me of partisanship, bias, only telling one side, etc. What is the other side? See this movie, and you tell me. Read full review
100
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
A triumph not of reporting but of synthesis. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleTamara Straus
A rage-inducing expose. Read full review
100
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
It is, at once, among the most riveting and hard-to-watch documentaries of recent years. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Where "No End" is cool and measured, Taxi is hot, anguished, and sometimes as difficult to watch as pictures of torture ought to be. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
As numbing as the drumbeat of downbeat documentaries can be, as hard as it is to even be shocked at the depravities committed in our name, a film like this remains important, both as an indictment of the present day and as a warning to future generations that the ends don't always justify the means. Read full review
90
Film ThreatMatthew Sorrento
"Taxi” captures the evil that many men do under the guise of American justice. Just as Bardem's menacing Chigurh approaches his targets in "No Country," American military administrators approached Afghan detainees with shackles and convoluted policy in their pockets. Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
What one interviewee calls a "fog of ambiguity" surrounding what was and wasn't officially authorized shielded superior officers and key members of the Department of Defense -- namely Donald Rumsfeld. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The film quickly becomes one of the most powerful, carefully researched investigations of the moral-legal side effects of current American military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. It's terrifying in a way that sneaks up on you. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
So disturbing, on so many levels. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Gibney also made the Oscar-nominated "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," and he gets remarkable access to people you wouldn't expect to talk to him (including U.S. interrogators charged with crimes at Bagram). Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
It’s the equal of "No End in Sight" in its tight focus on the nuts and bolts of incompetence, and it surpasses any recent melodrama in the empathy it evokes for both its victims and--surprisingly--victimizers. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
If recent American history is ever going to be discussed with the necessary clarity and ethical rigor, this film will be essential. Read full review
80
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Along with “No End in Sight,” this movie is one of the essential documentaries of the ongoing war. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Impossible to shake off. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Alex Gibney's forceful documentary starts with a single tragedy: the torture of an Afghani prisoner at Bagram Air Base. By the time it's over, he's broadened his focus into a documentary so damning of the U.S. government, it's hard to believe he even got it made. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneTasha Robinson
An invaluable document, both for its hard questions and for the sickeningly unflinching interviews that provide the answers. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerBill White
Journeys into a new heart of darkness, the destination of which lies outside the frontiers of humanity. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jennie Punter
Relentless, thorough and devastating. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterStephen Farber
In the end, this passionate indictment of present U.S. policies stirs both sadness and outrage. Read full review
70
VarietyJay Weissberg
Photos and video of torture at Bagram and Abu Ghraib are the most viscerally disturbing elements of Taxi to the Dark Side, but the way soft-spoken soldiers were transformed into beasts with the tacit approval of the higher-ups is just as profoundly chilling. Read full review
70
Village VoiceNick Pinkerton
Taxi is an impressively blueprinted work. Still images--from autopsy tables, makeshift holding cells, the Oval Office--are selected and deployed to maximum effect. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Taxi to the Dark Side adds something new to our awareness -- interviews with soldiers who served as interrogators in Afghanistan, and in Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison, and who, in some cases that ended in courts martial, served prison terms themselves. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
As viewers of his Enron film will testify, Gibney is a scrupulous director, and Taxi to the Dark Side is filled with detailed factual information. Read full review
70
Washington PostJohn Anderson
Although it's tempting to call Gibney's documentary "the one Iraq film you MUST see this season!!!" (which, by the way, it is), it's not just about Iraq. It's about torture as policy. Read full review
More From This Movie

82 Critic Reviews

7.1 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 72 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL