Bad Lieutenant Reviews
Members of the gutter-al elite will be the sole survivors.
Bad Lieutenant is finally a pulp parable of sin, addiction, and redemption, a movie that, like its subversive hero, revels in the pleasure -- and danger -- of going too far.
Full Review
| Original Score: A-
Abel Ferrara's uncompromising Bad Lieutenant is a harrowing journey with a corrupt N.Y. cop sinking into the lower depths.
There's an undeniable formal elegance in the way Ferrara, who coauthored the script with Zoe Lund, frames and holds certain shots, and Keitel certainly gives his all.
Time Out
Top CriticFerrara allows his star to dictate the pace, and is rewarded with a performance of extraordinary, terrifying honesty.
When Abel Ferrara calls something bad, better believe it: he means business.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/5
This punishing film from director Abel Ferrara is something else altogether -- an illuminating, excoriating descent into the cesspool of sin, self-loathing and defilement. This is not an easy film to watch.
Harvey Keitel plays this man with such uncompromised honesty that the performance can only be called courageous; not many actors would want to be seen in this light.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/4
As good as the lead actor is, he's not enough to save this picture from landing on the scrap-heap of uninspired, derivative, and grotesquely distasteful character studies.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
It doesn't take five minutes for us to understand the depth of his immorality. But the movie proceeds to outline his badness.
