80
The Guardian by Catherine Shoard
What we have here is an embedded report that sacrifices impartiality for access. But what access.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
80
The Hollywood Reporter by Deborah Young
There is much to appreciate in Poitras’ low-key, down-to-business approach which employs instinctive editing choices, and not her own persona (she never appears onscreen), to build the most revealing portrait of Assange and his WikiLeaks staff in the public domain.
83
Unlike "Citizenfour," there's not a whole lot here that hasn't already been revealed through the scrutiny of Assange's iconoclastic legacy, but the filmmaker's skillful treatment of the material yields another look at major historical events on an intimate level.
75
The Film Stage by Giovanni Marchini Camia
Poitras takes very little advantage of her direct access to Assange to offer up any other information that isn’t already common knowledge.
80
A superb character study of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
75
Slant Magazine by Kenji Fujishima
Laura Poitras doesn't indulge in score-settling cheap shots, but seriously grapples with her contradictory subject.
80
Screen International by Lee Marshall
Sometimes all a documentary needs to do is to get us in the room with somebody we’re curious about. Laura Poitras did this, and a lot more, in Citizenfour, by taking us to meet US whistleblower Edward Snowden; she pulls off the same trick in Risk.
75
The Playlist by Nikola Grozdanovic
Laura Poitras has done it again. Much like the celebrated Edward Snowden documentary Citizenfour, “Risk” is instilled with a sense of immediate urgency as an apprehensive cloud hovers over every action, every word, every wayward glance.
70
Running a short 84 minutes, Risk offers considerable insights into Assange, but seems to omit as much as it reveals.
80
The Telegraph by Robbie Collin
Risk doesn’t burnish the Assange myth – it injects you into the bloodstream of the Assange story.