Village Voice

This latest pounding slice-of-thug-life thriller from Brazil packs the same cinematic firepower as "City of God," only on the other side of the law.

New York Magazine (Vulture) by David Edelstein

The captain narrates in a punchy, journalistic style that gives Elite Squad an air of sociological realism--it bears a resemblance to viscerally exciting seventies urban thrillers like "The French Connection."

Village Voice by Jim Ridley

This latest pounding slice-of-thug-life thriller from Brazil packs the same cinematic firepower as "City of God," only on the other side of the law.

Variety

A one-note celebration of violence-for-good that plays like a recruitment film for fascist thugs.

Variety by Jay Weissberg

A one-note celebration of violence-for-good that plays like a recruitment film for fascist thugs.

The Hollywood Reporter by Ray Bennett

Poorly structured and at times incoherent.

Christian Science Monitor

Pokes and prods the viewer to watch the brutal, indiscriminate methods of Rio's SWAT-like cops and then demands only one conclusion: That cops in Rio's drug-infested slums must do what they do and if that means rampant point-blank executions, so be it.

New York Post by V.A. Musetto

It boggles the mind to think that Elite Squad won the top prize at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival in February.

Christian Science Monitor by Robert Koehler

Pokes and prods the viewer to watch the brutal, indiscriminate methods of Rio's SWAT-like cops and then demands only one conclusion: That cops in Rio's drug-infested slums must do what they do and if that means rampant point-blank executions, so be it.

The New York Times by Manohla Dargis

A relentlessly ugly, unpleasant, often incoherent assault on the senses from Brazil.