Tyrannosaur
Strand Releasing | Release Date: November 18, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
6
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsNov 16, 2011
Considine directs with the confidence of a veteran, giving his actors room to work while letting an ominous, overcast mood hang over almost every scene. Read full review
88
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottDec 1, 2011
Built as it is around horrifying moments of intimate violence, the stark British drama Tyrannosaur can be a hard movie to watch. At the same time, though, it's hard to stop watching once it gets going. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertNov 30, 2011
This isn't the kind of movie that even has hope enough to contain a message. There is no message, only the reality of these wounded personalities. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyMar 22, 2011
The grim drama is undeniably punishing, but Considine's screenplay laces in moments of warm human contact that puncture the harshness like delicate grace notes. Read full review
80
VarietyCharles GantMar 22, 2011
Brit thesp Paddy Considine makes a strong writing-helming feature debut with Tyrannosaur, recycling the same cast, characters and setup he used for his 2008 award-winning short "Dog Altogether." Read full review
80
Village VoiceNicolas RapoldMar 22, 2011
Colman's performance comes as a revelation. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrMar 1, 2012
The movie is cruelly frank about the ways damage cascades down to the powerless, but while it's not for the fainthearted (or for animal lovers), rewards are there. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenJan 26, 2012
The principals are superb, with Mullan and Colman doing a masterful job of inhabiting their separate but equal prisons. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerNov 18, 2011
A jagged, uneven, often unfulfilling experience, but there are a few first-rate scenes between Joseph and Hannah that convincingly put forward the capacity for redemption in even the most ravaged of souls. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaNov 14, 2011
No walk in the park, Tyrannosaur is a character study steeped in the British (and Irish) tradition of social realism, and the experience of watching this skillfully made film is, well, exhausting. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyNov 17, 2011
It is the kind of film that leaves you limp, exhausted and feeling battered by the end. But its wrenching performances make the beating worth weathering. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNov 17, 2011
Peter Mullan and Olivia Colman give such hard-as-nails, lived-in performances in this stark drama directed by Irish actor Paddy Considine ("In America," "Cinderella Man") that it's impossible not to be pulled in. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfNov 15, 2011
Tyrannosaur won't translate into entertainment, nor as a wake-up call to the dark side of humanity - though it does work nicely as a tart slice of hard-bitten acting; the entire cast is superb. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsDec 1, 2011
The result is a picture that is baldly manipulative yet weirdly sentimental, and while Considine (a fine actor) can write, he is capable also of writing dialogue you've heard before. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderBen SachsDec 1, 2011
The leads are the whole show, and the understated visuals give them room to make the material their own. But none of the other characters is all that fleshed out (Eddie Marsan, as the woman's cruel husband, hasn't got much to do), and despite having shot the entire film on location, Considine never establishes much sense of place. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineSimon AbramsNov 13, 2011
The brutality of Tyrannosaur isn't so over the top as to make director Paddy Considine's sympathy for his flawed characters look like a sham. But it does frequently bring his film's seesawing exploration of blue-collar existence to the brink of collapse. Read full review
40
The New York TimesA.O. ScottNov 17, 2011
The characters are trapped, suffocated, pushed through a story that gives them very little room or time to figure themselves out, and that finally turns their feelings into the wan stuff of fable. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle SmithNov 18, 2011
True, the stars are very good at what they do, but so what? Read full review
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