74
Metascore
24 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberThe Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberAlthough the subject matter is inherently disturbing, it’s hard to imagine any audience remaining unmoved by this mournful tale.
- 91The PlaylistJessica KiangThe PlaylistJessica KiangOn both a political and a personal level, the film is pessimistic, yes, but it feels truthful, and never lapses into easy cynicism.
- 90Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlVillage VoiceAlan ScherstuhlThe Attack is most avowedly "about" terrorism. But that's a subject, not the subject. The film, an arresting and upsetting one, is also about love, trauma, and trust, both within one particular marriage and within entire cultures.
- 88McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMcClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreDoueiri has brilliantly and simply put a compassionate human face on a part of the world where ethnicity still trumps education, class and achievement, where even the successful face, at best, second-class citizenship in their own country.
- 80The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisMr. Doueiri creates characters, emotional colors and political contradictions that have the agonized sting and breathe of life.
- 75Washington PostMichael O'SullivanWashington PostMichael O'SullivanOn one level, The Attack is a mystery, but not the kind you think. It’s obvious from the start who detonated the bomb; the only question is why. It’s a question that probably cannot be answered to the satisfaction of anyone living outside Israel or the occupied territories.
- 63Slant MagazineTomas HachardSlant MagazineTomas HachardThe film is most interesting as an articulation of how its main character's initial status as an emblem of inter-religious understanding quickly dissolves following a suicide bombing.
- 60Time OutDavid FearTime OutDavid FearImagine a male Lifetime movie fueled by Middle Eastern tensions, and you’d have Ziad Doueiri’s torn-from-Tel-Aviv’s-headlines melodrama, one which drops its handsome husband of a hero into a domestic nightmare.
- 60New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNew York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierA gripping, personal examination of a seemingly unresolvable conflict.
- 58The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloAll the same, as dramatized here, The Attack skirts perilously close to being an apologia for suicide bombing.