Metacritic Movie Ratings
We Own the Night Reviews

A sample of reviews from critics across the country.

• 75

  out of 100

  USA TodayClaudia Puig

  The movie really belongs to Phoenix, who gives a haunting performance with just the right degree of intensity.

  Read full review

• 75

  out of 100

  Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert

  This is an atmospheric, intense film, well acted, and when it's working it has a real urgency.

  Read full review

• 70

  out of 100

  VarietyTodd McCarthy

  Adequately acted and flecked with the required quota of action to satisfy genre fans, pic recalls numerous good police dramas of the 1970s, but mostly in superficial ways that bring nothing new to the table.

  Read full review

• 67

  out of 100

  Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman

  The story is too patterned and too contrived.

  Read full review

• 60

  out of 100

  Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust

  It's a bare-knuckled crime drama set in 1988 that stylistically could have been made that year and emphasizes Gray's strengths as a director while drawing attention to his limitations as a writer.

  Read full review

• 60

  out of 100

  The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt

  A more accomplished film than "Yards." Yet it will fail to satisfy police movie buffs, as procedures are de-emphasized, and the drama is too perfunctory and obvious.

  Read full review

• 50

  out of 100

  The New York TimesA.O. Scott

  The problem with We Own the Night is that it mistakes sentiment for profundity, and takes its ideas about character and fate more seriously than it takes its characters and their particular fates. "I feel light as a feather," Bobby says in a crucial scene, at which point the movie starts to sink like a stone.

  Read full review

See all We Own the Night movie reviews at Metacritic.com