40
Disappointing plod of an espionage thriller.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
90
Village Voice by Alan Scherstuhl
A Most Wanted Man is simply a complex tale superbly told, with time for nuance and to soak in its mysteries.
67
The problem isn’t quite that the film is short on thrills (there is a paucity; the first adrenaline racing sequences don’t arrive until about an hour in), it’s that it’s not quite a character piece either.
75
Slant Magazine by Jesse Cataldo
Anton Corbijn constructs a stifling world of shadowy surveillance and intersecting national interests, building on John Le Carré's sense of moral and emotional exhaustion.
80
Corbijn succeeds here in large part because his attention to nuance and detail so fully complements that of the German operatives at the story’s core.
83
While the final act might not surprise or stun, it does feature some classic le Carre movements, some trademark Corbijn ease, and a terrifying Hoffman bellowing at the sky – not so bad for just another spy film.
70
A Most Wanted Man is a cold film that examines its characters from a clinical distance, but its iciness gives way to raw emotion in a powerful final sequence.
70
The Hollywood Reporter by Todd McCarthy
The story is a jigsaw puzzle in which all the pieces are of an indistinguishable gray, making fitting them together a tricky matter.
60
It's a professional old-school espionage outing, intricate as clockwork and acted with relish by the ever-watchable Hoffman. But it remains an oddly anonymous enterprise from this talented and distinctive director.