The Wall
Roadside Attractions | Release Date: May 12, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
11
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
The PlaylistWill AshtonMay 18, 2017
Armed with commanding performances, striking cinematography and exceptionally well-calibrated direction, The Wall is a haunting, engrossing death march, one that’s not entirely original but also not easy to shake. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMay 11, 2017
This is a monster movie disguised as a war movie. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMay 11, 2017
The Wall is a fairly hopeless film. In a sense, the fragile structure of the title acts as a double metaphor: for a barrier between enemies that keeps them from killing each other, as well as one that must come down if true understanding is ever to occur. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubMay 10, 2017
Whatever the numbers and whatever the broader entertainment trends, The Wall proves it’s good when big directors have the flexibility to make small projects. Read full review
75
The Film StageDan MeccaMay 9, 2017
At its core, The Wall serves as a well-made, engaging war-time thriller that showcases Liman’s abilities as a top-notch storyteller, no matter the shape or size of the story being told. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeApr 28, 2017
The Wall succeeds because of Worrell’s words. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd May 15, 2017
In its best moments, The Wall is just a movie, a tense and nasty black-box thriller that conveys its politics through the microcosmic stakes of its life-and-death scenario. Pity that when the characters open their mouths, they sometimes unleash some very heavy-handed artillery, their speech coated too often in cliché. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovMay 10, 2017
It’s the sort of cat-and-mouse game that recalls certain elements of such disparate films as John Boorman’s "Hell in the Pacific," Larry Cohen’s screenplay for "Phone Booth," and, one key line in Dan O’Bannon’s "Return of the Living Dead," believe it or not. Read full review
67
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonMay 10, 2017
Liman is no stranger to tense, effective thrillers – his last outing was the criminally undervalued Edge of Tomorrow – and on that level, The Wall surprisingly works. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenMay 11, 2017
Taylor-Johnson’s agonized performance holds the audience’s attention, but his portrayal doesn’t really take the character anywhere. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonMay 11, 2017
Taylor-Johnson — who earned high praise for his performance in last year’s “Nocturnal Animals” — is riveting as a guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMay 11, 2017
The Wall may be fictional, but at its occasional, patient best it feels truthfully scary. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTom RussoMay 10, 2017
Watching Taylor-Johnson’s character engage the enemy this way is intriguing, but also a bit removed from the realism the film is after. Can you say catch-22? Read full review
63
Slant MagazineDerek SmithMay 8, 2017
The Wall packs a surprisingly savage punch by boiling the exploits of battle down to its essential elements. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonAnna SmithJul 25, 2017
The Wall isn’t a terrifically exciting thriller, but it’s thoughtful and fitfully suspenseful – a lean, character-driven and quietly rewarding film. Read full review
60
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisMay 11, 2017
The vein-popping mood is ultimately more exhausting than exciting. Read full review
60
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoMay 9, 2017
Aaron Taylor-Johnson deserves more credit as an actor, because he's the only reason this Iraq War thriller hobbles steadily on two legs. Read full review
60
Screen DailyTim GriersonMay 5, 2017
An effective, albeit somewhat artificial, exercise in suspense, The Wall derives much of its propulsion from Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s grunting, grimacing performance as a wounded US soldier squaring off with an unseen Iraqi sniper. Read full review
58
IndieWireDavid EhrlichApr 28, 2017
The director’s instincts are a bit too broad to sell the full psychic horror of this scenario, and Taylor-Johnson will never be accused of being able to shoulder a movie by himself, but a super coherent sense of space and a vivid feel for the environment help The Wall to remain upright to the end. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranMay 11, 2017
The kind of tension you would expect is never completely present. Read full review
50
TheWrapSam FragosoMay 11, 2017
Despite this noble intention to create palpable tension — and dialogue — between two strangers, Dwain Worrell’s script repeatedly falls short. Read full review
50
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlMay 9, 2017
Liman, for all his action acuity, struggles to make lying behind a wall exciting. He manages some tense and rousing sequences, but between them yawn scenes of the killer jabbering bullshit and the hero passing in and out of consciousness. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 8, 2017
When The Wall goes wrong, it doesn’t instantly crumble, though you can feel the foundation collapsing underneath the film’s feet. Taylor-Johnson, who must carry it, holds our interest. It’s just that we know, judging from that fatal flaw screenwriter Dwain Worrell built in as a plot contrivance, that it won’t end well, either. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyApr 28, 2017
While one can admire the commitment, technique, concentration and stamina required to keep the pressure cooker at maximum temperature, it still feels like an exercise, one so dramatically monotonous and tonally high-pitched that you want to escape almost as much as the characters do. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyAug 3, 2017
The film is street-hawking its thesis all over the parish. Had it tried a softer sell, it would have been much more tempting to stop and listen. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyMay 12, 2017
Where The Wall excels is in the creation of an extra-untantalizing desert atmosphere. The dust is practically inhalable, the sunlight glaring, and the characters grow ever more sand-gritted with each mishap. Read full review
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