The Counselor
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: October 25, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
48
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 42 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
15
Negative:
12
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Tampa Bay TimesColette BancroftOct 24, 2013
The Counselor explodes with violence that is grisly, but not gratuitous: McCarthy has a point to make. Wars create monsters, and the drug war is no exception. Read full review
100
The New York TimesManohla DargisOct 24, 2013
Mr. Scott’s seriousness isn’t always well served by the scripts he films, but in Mr. McCarthy he has found a partner with convictions about good and evil rather than canned formula. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperOct 23, 2013
The Counselor achieves the almost unheard-of daily double of giving us the most outrageous sex scene of the year AND the most unforgettably brutal murder of the year. This is a badass journey from start to finish. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsOct 24, 2013
In its cross-cultural breadth, director Ridley Scott’s smart and violent film merits comparison to Steven Soderbergh’s “Traffic,” but the dialogue delivered by the stellar cast is incomparably McCarthy’s. Read full review
80
Total FilmJamie GrahamOct 25, 2013
An absorbing thriller that favours vivid characters, profound ideas and Old Testament morals over propulsive plotting and set-pieces. With lots of blood. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTom RussoOct 24, 2013
This one has more in common with Scott’s “Thelma & Louise” in the memorable way it escalates, inevitably but also unexpectedly, into a spin through wilder country, and a meditation on bigger themes. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnOct 24, 2013
Undoubtedly one of the weirder, narratively sophisticated adult dramas released by a major studio this year, The Counselor is also just enjoyable enough to hint at the unrealized potential of the main talent behind its creation. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Oct 23, 2013
No amount of needless chatter can quite dilute the power of The Counselor’s grim endgame, especially given the way its writer and director conspire to keep the threat offscreen, like some terrible, unseen force of nature. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriOct 24, 2013
It shows us things — obscene and hilarious, yes, but also just as often harrowing and unforgettable — we never thought we’d see. It’s ridiculous, but it has a ragged nobility all its own. Read full review
70
The DissolveScott TobiasOct 23, 2013
McCarthy’s voice comes through strongly enough to excuse the film’s excesses and cast its more generic plot elements in a new light. Read full review
68
Film.comKate ErblandOct 24, 2013
A darkly tense drama that rarely hits anything resembling an emotional beat. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovOct 23, 2013
Fassbender, though, gets the kudos (again) as the man who has everything but loses it all – thanks partly to a slyly cast Bruno Ganz (Wings of Desire) and, more important, to the character’s moral compass that points wherever he feels it should, until, of course, it points due south of heaven. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreOct 25, 2013
Among the players, the wild-haired Bardem stands out, and a vampy Diaz sets the stage for uninhibited future in villain roles, or deadly-sexy car sales. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaOct 25, 2013
McCarthy's screenplay, a tangle of doublecrosses and dead men, has just been published. Those who really want to know what's going on would be advised to buy a copy. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineBill WeberOct 23, 2013
The film doesn't temper enough of Cormac McCarthy's excesses, but Ridley Scott and his ensemble find enough meat in his scenario to make for diverting, bloody pleasure. Read full review
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