a relentlessly fast-paced political expose that has not a single wasted second
Comment
10/28/09
Z (1969)
90
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:31
Fresh:28
Rotten:3
Average Rating:8/10
Consensus: Powerfully effective, this anti-fascist political thriller stands out as both high-conscience melodrama and high-tempo action movie.
Theatrical Release:Mar 13, 2009 Limited
Synopsis: "Z" is a classic Cold-War political thriller, based on a true story. It concerns the assassination of Zei, a popular pacifist and anti-nuclear leader. The aftermath of the incident reveals a deeper... [More]
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Reviews for Z
It's still an eye-catching, fast-paced watch.
10/26/09
The cyclonic drive is all heat and outrage
09/25/09
Its mere existence is testimony to the fact that no matter how hard those in power struggle to conceal their misdeeds, truth will eventually win out.
08/28/09
Z, whose title is a stand-in for the Greek word zei ('he lives'), takes us back to where that fascination all began for Costa-Gavras and shows us that, for the rest of us, it hasn't ever really ended.
07/10/09
Top CriticIn its slick cinematic urgency and its outrage, Z still has the power to shake you up.
04/23/09
Top CriticZ combines the intellectual heft of revolution-themed films like The Battle of Algiers with the drop-dead cool of mod touchstones like Blow Out or Le Samouraï.
03/13/09
Mikis Theodorakis provides a stirring musical score of traditional Greek music.
03/13/09
This concession to cheap psychological realism still manages to stand out and stick in the craw.
03/11/09
Years later, Costa-Gavras’ shrewd contrivance and superb form hold up impressively.
03/11/09
Fascism has been driven underground, but a dose of Costa-Gavra's electrifyingly brutal 1969 political thriller Z will rattle you all the same.
03/11/09
Top CriticForty years later, Z remains one of the most thrilling and urgent political thrillers ever made, a model for socially-conscious melodramas (and Costa-Gavras best picture).
03/11/09
The military junta that ensued in Greece gave the film a sense of urgency approved by Cannes and Oscar alike.
03/10/09
Top CriticThis movie is for those who prefer for there to be meat on a screenplay's skeleton and who don't demand far-fetched conspiracy theories that play fast and loose with the facts.
02/20/08
Top CriticA chilling, manipulative rollercoaster ride.
02/20/08
A punchy political pic [from the novel by Vassilis Vassilikos] that mixes action, violence, and conspiracy on a robust, lavish scale.
02/20/08
Top CriticThe recreation of the murder and the subsequent investigation uses the techniques of an American thriller to gripping effect, though conspiracies are so commonplace nowadays that it's hard to imagine the impact it made at the time.
06/24/06
Way ahead of the curve.
10/10/05
No review available.
04/07/05
No review available.
01/29/05
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