The Divide
Anchor Bay Films | Release Date: January 13, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
28
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
4
Negative:
12
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
IndieWireEric KohnJan 14, 2012
The Divide manages to transcend its numerous flaws while indulging them: No matter where it falters, the underlying purpose stays put. Read full review
50
MovielineAlison WillmoreJan 14, 2012
These characters are at best doodles, and none of the performances are able to tease more depth out of them. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasJan 11, 2012
Better performances might have sold The Divide, but aside from Arquette's fine work as a single mother driven to self-degradation, the cast amplifies the impression of a canned, one-act theater piece. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesMark OlsenJan 12, 2012
Director Xavier Gens seems to have set out to fashion a taut, under-siege thriller, but he never lets the innate drama of the situation play out; too often, events are accompanied by loud thumps and whooshes on the soundtrack. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJan 10, 2012
Unintentionally true to its title, The Divide first goes for a similar bleakness (it barely registers as entertainment), then lurches into a rousing, vengeful finale; both sides of the equation add up to less than zero. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenJan 19, 2012
Valuable life lessons always come at a steep price, and this one is no exception. Sorry, but you'll have to shell out for The Divide and then suffer through its nearly two hours of bloody inanities. Weigh the balance, make your choice. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisJan 12, 2012
It's doom that we're meant to feel here. And repulsion. I hate to say, but I shrugged. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezJan 8, 2012
In Xavier Gens's The Divide, the revolution will not be televised, only the degradation of human civility--and in a mire of clichés more toxic to the mind than the radioactive dust that causes everyone's hair to fall out in the wake of a nuclear explosion. Read full review
30
The New York TimesDavid DeWittJan 12, 2012
We wait, from one cringe-inducing, hide-your-face-from-the-screen act after another, to see how much worse the behavior will become. Read full review
30
Village VoiceNick PinkertonJan 10, 2012
Neither intellectually nor viscerally engaging, what The Divide finally offers audiences is the not-terribly-edifying, stagnant experience of being locked in a basement with a pack of assholes. Read full review
30
VarietyJoe LeydonJan 7, 2012
Plodding and repetitive in its efforts to maintain pressure-cooker intensity, The Divide resembles nothing so much as an extended "Twilight Zone" episode as it brings a sci-fi twist to a familiar scenario about stressed characters who bring out the worst in each other while trapped in close quarters. Read full review
25
NPRMark JenkinsJan 24, 2012
As the loosely aligned band of survivors turns into a pack of sociopathic loners, the only reasonable conclusion is that they were all pretty rotten to begin with. Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovJan 11, 2012
The cynic in me notes that the whole, dismal enterprise is just a cheap steal from Roger Corman's 1955 film "Day the World Ended." At least that single set-bound cheapie had a three-eyed mutant to enliven the otherwise stagy proceedings. Read full review
20
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckJan 11, 2012
Relentlessly unpleasant and nihilistic in its approach and execution, The Divide is best appreciated as a virtual instruction manual on how not to behave during a crisis. Read full review
12
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJan 19, 2012
As it is, The Divide is simply noxious for noxiousness's sake. French director Xavier Gens and writers Karl Mueller and Eron Sheean almost seem to take a kind of perverse pride in seeing how far they can go. Read full review
12
New York PostSara StewartJan 13, 2012
The only possible relief from director Xavier Gens' abusively bleak survivalist scenario is how implausible it is. Read full review
0
ObserverRex ReedJan 10, 2012
Expect the dregs for weeks to come, but I can safely say with absolutely no trepidation that it is unlikely to get worse than a lurid, lewd and loathsome shockfest called The Divide. Read full review
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