80
Metascore
27 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100EmpireDavid HughesEmpireDavid HughesPrepare to be shocked, disturbed, awed... and, if you expected justice to prevail at last, ultimately devastated.
- 100Village VoiceVillage VoiceThat makes this the most rare of films: one that indisputably matters. And one that stuns.
- 88New York PostSara StewartNew York PostSara StewartThis is a compelling and comprehensive guide to one of the most Kafkaesque crime stories in American history.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThe Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThorny, blood-boiling and finely made.
- 80Total FilmTotal FilmA superbly detailed account of a notorious miscarriage of justice and how it was gradually unravelled. It's a tad overlong, but the passion, skill and revelations on display will captivate you.
- 80The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawA gripping documentary.
- 75Slant MagazineSlant MagazineBy taking a disturbing and sometimes conflicted look at the prejudices that led to the West Memphis Three's imprisonment, it asks murky questions about how people could get something so wrong for so long.
- 40Time OutTime OutBerlinger and Sinofksy merely suggested Hobbs might be responsible for the crime; Berg goes in for the kill, inconclusive evidence and docu-ethics be damned. The queasy certainty with which the filmmaker jumps to her conclusions, however, is all too reminiscent of the original prosecutors' zeal. It's hard to imagine how someone could study this case for so long and yet miss its most critical lesson.
- 40New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNew York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierCertainly, the West Memphis 3 deserve more chances to detail how the justice system went nightmarishly awry. But take this as ultimately more personal journal than investigation.