74
Metascore
14 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88The Associated PressLindsey BahrThe Associated PressLindsey BahrAlthough the event and aftermath were widely, exhaustively covered, I don’t think I’m the only one who lost the thread early. This not knowing is part of what makes Ryan White’s extraordinary documentary Assassins, about the trial of the two young women, so compulsively compelling.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweThe Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweRyan White crafts a piercingly observant investigative documentary that methodically pieces together a complex collage of incriminating evidence outlining a carefully orchestrated attempt to conceal the sinister implications behind Kim’s assassination.
- 80VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanAssassins is a terrific true-crime story, but it’s also a documentary thriller about the new world disorder.
- 80CineVueMatthew AndersonCineVueMatthew AndersonAmerican filmmaker Ryan White, director of the acclaimed Netflix mini-series The Keepers, spins a web of riveting, murderous intrigue in his latest documentary Assassins.
- 75IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichThe story is so outlandish — and the film so dry — that it’s hard not to be impressed by the discipline White showed in refusing to have more fun with it.
- 75Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreWhite, who did “Ask Dr. Ruth” and a “Serena” documentary, is very good at getting the blood boiling over the injustices at every turn, the feigned outrage of North Koreans trying to bully their way out of blame and Malaysians who let the world know that they know who was involved and how, and just what they were willing to do about it.
- 75RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyRogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyWhite plays it straight, and deftly untangles the different webs of meaning and implication, political, social and otherwise, to draw us into Siti and Doan's worlds, to understand how the girls were tricked and used as pawns in a deadly North Korean family feud.
- 70Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayLos Angeles TimesNoel MurrayWhile Assassins may be somewhat unsatisfying as a true-crime story, it’s provocative as an examination of power.
- 60Film ThreatNorman GidneyFilm ThreatNorman GidneyWhile informative, I never leaned forward and engaged with the events documented.
- 60The New York TimesBen KenigsbergThe New York TimesBen KenigsbergIts main virtues are a wild story and a stealth sense of outrage. It argues that these so-called assassins became political pawns and had to face the courts without witnesses who might have aided their defense.