The Kill Team
Belga Films | Release Date: October 25, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
The Film StageJohn FinkMay 2, 2019
Krauss packs a lot into what could be read as a prequel for his documentary, creating a brutal war on terror picture with a timely context. Read full review
75
IndieWireDavid EhrlichOct 24, 2019
As lucid and intense as it is underwritten, his second crack at the Maywan District murders might be much less nuanced than his first, but this riveting thriller still manages to amplify its subject much louder than Krauss has been able to before. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleZaki HasanOct 23, 2019
The Kill Team serves an essential function by illustrating in agonizing detail not only how easily morality can be subjugated to hate, but how important it is for people of conscience to do the right thing. It’s deeply uncomfortable viewing at times, but it’s no less necessary a story to experience. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckOct 24, 2019
Despite superb performances by Nat Wolff as a conflicted young soldier and particularly Alexander Skarsgard as a sociopathic platoon leader, the picture proves only sporadically compelling. Read full review
70
VarietyNick SchagerMay 2, 2019
Those familiar with this story won’t find any novel twists here, but Krauss astutely conveys the literal and moral quagmires produced by such military situations. Read full review
70
TheWrapMonica CastilloMay 2, 2019
“The Kill Team” is both a tense moral thriller and a disheartening account of our country’s actions abroad. Read full review
63
Slant MagazinePat BrownOct 20, 2019
Despite glimpses of a larger critique of the American project in Afghanistan, it lets us escape from the horrors of war before it finishes demolishing the illusion of a clean one. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreOct 11, 2019
The big and small screens have been awash in military features and documentaries since 9/11, and there’s not a lot to The Kill Team that qualifies as new or surprising. But a decent level of suspense and the genuine dread Skarsgård casts, like a shadow, inform it and make it stand out in a genre that may not outlive America’s endless military involvement in that corner of the world. Read full review
60
Screen DailyStephen Whitty May 2, 2019
At its core, The Kill Team has one great performance, and some important things to say – about the dangerous appeal of the strong, and the easy malleability of the young. It’s well worth watching, and thinking on. It’s just a shame that that great performance isn’t matched by all the others – and that what the film has to say is said in such a dutifully by-the-book way. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubRoxana HadadiOct 23, 2019
Its depiction of toxic masculinity and bloodthirstiness within the U.S. Army is blunted by an overly passive lead performance and a lack of specificity in its storytelling. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzOct 31, 2019
Lean, sincere, impassioned filmmaking, yet it fails to leave as much of an impression as it clearly wants to. Read full review
50
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergOct 24, 2019
While the leads are credible, the filmmaking (including a hacky score) adds a sheen of macho familiarity to a narrative that was eerily matter-of-fact in doc form. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiOct 24, 2019
Skarsgård is dangerous as ever here, but writer-director Dan Krauss’ drama offers very little insight into the minds of these men, and we’re left with no satisfying takeaway. It’s just one upsetting scene after another. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshOct 24, 2019
Krauss digs into the murky, uneasy morality of wartime, but The Kill Team doesn’t quite convey the brutality of these crimes with the same power that news accounts or even Krauss’ own documentary have. Read full review
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