The Debt
Miramax Films | Release Date: August 31, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
27
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
EmpireStaff (Not credited)Sep 26, 2011
A smart, tense, well-acted thriller undercut by a disappointing finale and an occasional lack of focus. But at least this offers something for those looking for a film with more on its mind than simple set-pieces. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttSep 2, 2011
As a thriller, The Debt performs many if not all the right moves. Where the John Madden-directed film gets into trouble is in wanting to deal with the Holocaust without being entirely a period film. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanAug 31, 2011
Despite some early whispers of awards potential, The Debt is nothing more than a gritty thriller with a highbrow pedigree. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineRichard MoweAug 30, 2011
Just when many may have thought that Cold War thrillers had gone out of fashion, along comes one to reinvigorate the genre. Read full review
60
MovielineAlison WillmoreAug 30, 2011
The Debt shortchanges itself severely with the weight it gives the portion of its story set further in the past. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony LaneSep 5, 2011
As with Spielberg's "Munich," there is an awkward, irresoluble tension between the movie's urge to thrill and the weighty pull of the historical obligations that it seeks to assume. How much, to be blunt, should we be enjoying ourselves? What do we owe to The Debt? Whatever the sum, it is more than the film itself, gloomy with unease, seems able to repay. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonSep 1, 2011
Any self-respecting period piece, historical drama or even caper movie - and The Debt is all three - balances issues of global significance with interpersonal drama. The problem here is that the personal eclipses the global. The stakes are too low. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 30, 2011
Director Madden vacillates between treating the issues and historical context of The Debt seriously, and as the story demands, as pure, heavy-handed pulp. The cast does what it can in the service of this assignment. But some jobs simply resist satisfying completion. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesSep 1, 2011
A strong cast fails to rescue this ponderous Oscar bait. Read full review
40
Time OutKeith UhlichAug 30, 2011
Despite the chronological juggling, the film's stylistic debts (a Hitchcock flashback borrowed from Stage Fright, a Bertolucci-esque apartment sequence that could be titled Last Tango in Auschwitz) are simplistic to a fault; they lack the multifaceted suspense and sensuality typified by those directors at their best. Read full review
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