The Proposition

Variety by

Hillcoat and Cave have here found their most fertile ground yet for allegory-rich examinations of life and death in remote, pressure-cooker environments.

The New Yorker by Anthony Lane

It is one of those movies--Antonioni's "Red Desert" being the most flagrant example--that spend so much time brimming with moral and political suggestion that they almost forget to tell us what's actually going on.

L.A. Weekly by F. X. Feeney

The Proposition is a very hard and harsh movie, but it also has a hypnotic, lyrical velocity. As Arthur, Huston exudes dead charisma.

Village Voice by J. Hoberman

The climactic Christmas Day dinner of dreadful retribution is a terrifying prospect, but for anyone with a yen for our great lost genre, it's also some sort of gift.

The Hollywood Reporter by Kirk Honeycutt

A fascinating, mythological western.

TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh

A sweat-slicked, near-abstract ballet of blood and sand.

The New York Times by Manohla Dargis

The cast of The Proposition is reason enough to see the film.

The A.V. Club by Noel Murray

The sketchily symbolic characters and flat plot just frame an atmosphere of sticky heat and Biblical reckoning.

Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer

The veteran rock musician Nick Cave wrote the screenplay and John Hillcoat directed, both somewhat in thrall to Sam Peckinpah. The bonds of family are the centerpiece of this highly uneven, hyperviolent film.

Film Threat by Phil Hall

A good film, but it should’ve been a great one.