The Dead Don't Hurt
Shout! Studios | Release Date: May 31, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Original-CinJohn KirkJul 15, 2024
Watching this film is a lesson in history. It’s detailed, accurate and meticulous in its presentation of a human drama that realistically could have happened. When you hear about Viggo’s attention to history, this is a western story that becomes and grittier and accurate look into the past and a lesson in history. Read full review
90
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergMay 30, 2024
Mortensen’s ambitions may be old-fashioned, but they’re grand ambitions, and he has realized them in a handsome passion project. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzJun 3, 2024
You almost never get to see material of this sort play out at length in a film set in the American West. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleJun 6, 2024
The supremely watchable pairing of these magnetic actors is what helps lift this lyrically crafted frontier love story above the usual efforts to restore the genre’s appeal. Read full review
80
Little White LiesDavid JenkinsJun 5, 2024
Despite some pacing issues and the fact it leans a little to heavily on extended visual longeurs, this is a fine second feature from Mortensen. Read full review
80
TheWrapSteve PondApr 25, 2024
It wouldn’t be a Western if it didn’t include some kind of showdown, and “The Dead Don’t Hurt” gives us one that is bloody and satisfying without being what you’d expect. Mortensen twists the tropes until the end. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 25, 2024
Violence and tragedy is where the story is naturally heading, and this trajectory is plain in every scene and every shot: a world where aggression must either be violently and dangerously resisted or accepted. Read full review
80
Total FilmMatt MaytumSep 11, 2023
It’s a welcome spin on the once-dominant genre that now struggles for oxygen. It’s also less brutal a viewing experience than Mortensen’s punishing directorial debut, with plenty of shoots of hope, and an abundance of natural beauty. Read full review
78
The Daily BeastNick SchagerMay 31, 2024
Occasionally stumbles along its well-worn path. Still, courtesy of [Mortensen] and Vicky Krieps’ excellent lead performances, it delivers moving measures of the genre’s beauty, brutality, and sorrow. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMay 30, 2024
Not that this film (or for that matter, any other Western made in the last 30 years) can stack up to “Unforgiven,” but it is a lean and brutally authentic tale bolstered by outstanding performances from Mortensen, the versatile Vicky Krieps and a terrific supporting cast. Read full review
75
The PlaylistJason BaileyApr 25, 2024
Mortensen is playing with iconography here, so it’s less about that destination than the journey — and he finds the right, delicate, evocative note to conclude on and holds it exactly as long as he should. “The Dead Don’t Hurt” isn’t your typical revenge Western, but audiences willing to stick with it will find a picture rendered with grace, patience, and artistry. Read full review
70
The Irish TimesTara BradyJun 6, 2024
Mortensen’s script tussles between feminist revision and old-school male showdowns, imagining Vivienne as a Joan of Arc-inspired frontierswoman yet subject to the degradations of the era. Read full review
70
Screen DailyWendy IdeApr 25, 2024
The measured pacing and an overly generous running time might work against the picture, but for the most part, it’s a rich, rewarding and fully fleshed-out drama. Read full review
70
Film ThreatAndy HowellApr 25, 2024
For better or worse, the film is more of an intellectual affair than a thriller. Read full review
67
ColliderChase HutchinsonApr 25, 2024
Though the ending is somewhat disappointing and less dynamic than everything that preceded it, this can’t take away all that the film still has going for it. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJul 31, 2024
It can be cute, playful and romantic, then turn dishearteningly violent as it serves up a generous sampling of what life on the untamed frontier could be like. It’s also frustrating in its lapses in logic, its cumbersome, shuffled and dream-infused structure. Read full review
60
Time OutPhil de SemlyenJun 9, 2024
Watching this sturdy, sensitively acted Old West drama, it’s easy to wonder how many westerns Viggo Mortensen would have made if he’d been kicking about in the ’50s and ’60s. Read full review
60
EmpireDan JolinJun 9, 2024
A Western that hits many of the expected beats but which does so in an unexpected manner, being centred on a tender, loving relationship rather than gunplay and grit. Read full review
60
VarietyPeter DebrugeMay 31, 2024
That nonlinear narrative choice in an otherwise understated art-house Western serves to confuse more than it reveals, complicating things for the meat-and-potatoes crowd that regularly turn out for cowboy stories. Read full review
50
Screen RantFerdosa AbdiJun 7, 2024
Krieps has such a clear vision of who Vivienne is when she isn’t the object of romance, violence or intolerance. Her quirks and quiet dominance ultimately shift the film toward the direction Mortensen thought he was headed. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineSeth KatzMay 28, 2024
Ultimately, the didacticism of Viggo Mortensen’s film lets it down. Read full review
50
The Film StageEthan VestbyApr 25, 2024
This is certainly patient storytelling, but there’s a difference when that doesn’t really lead anywhere in terms of stirring character development or eye-opening observation. Read full review
50
IndieWireNatalia WinkelmanApr 25, 2024
A tale of romance and revenge that culminates in a shootout, The Dead Don’t Hurt is not a total misfire. There are moments of excitement, and the film’s semi-nonlinearity allows for a few midpoint surprises about characters we thought we knew. Read full review
50
Paste MagazineKatarina DocalovichOct 17, 2023
The Dead Don’t Hurt is stuffed to the gills with western tropes, with not a whole lot to add to the genre, especially in terms of furthering feminism onscreen. It may not be the worst western in the world in terms of women’s rights, but that is hardly a reason to commend a film that’s only missing the whore with the heart of gold. Read full review
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