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Critics Consensus: Blood Ties boasts a fine cast and palpable period detail, but ultimately fails to do much of anything new with its formulaic story.
Critic Consensus: Blood Ties boasts a fine cast and palpable period detail, but ultimately fails to do much of anything new with its formulaic story.
All Critics (54) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (28) | Rotten (26) | DVD (1)
If you hear an unearthly sound during Blood Ties, it might be Sidney Lumet's ghost attempting to contact his lawyer.
Seems to be the continuation of a narrative that only exists in its characters' heads.
I share Canet's affection for Sidney Lumet films full of scraggly sideburns and big brown Fleetwoods the size of the QE2. But if you really appreciated those movies, you'd use your memories of them to jumpstart something new.
If you're an ardent admirer of pretty much anyone in the cast (OK, except Emmerich), you'll find something worthwhile here.
The performers carry on - Owen is particularly good - but this bird doesn't fly.
An ambitious, if disappointing, period crime drama featuring Clive Owen and Billy Crudup as warring brothers on opposite sides of the law.
Blood Ties, despite pumping out some exhilarating action sequences, ends up becoming a cliché-ridden work.
Canet delivers a character-centered thriller that doesn't break so much as an inch of new ground.
Everything is in place to have created a truly sensational piece of cinema, and yet you can't help feeling somewhat cold towards this film, despite the memorable, impactful finale.
While the story centres on twisted moral dilemmas, this 1970s-set thriller takes such a hesitant, internalised approach that if never lets viewers under the characters' skin.
The film is too sprawling and unfocused to deliver real emotional clout, but there are are some gripping stand-offs along the way.
In its lesser moments, the film is overwrought and derivative but, at its best, it has a real flavour of Friedkin, Coppola and Scorsese.
It is a world of men, and so all female characters are one-dimensional and revolve around them, while Billy Crudup delivers the only nuanced performance in a weak movie filled with too many characters who are mostly underdeveloped and make it lose focus like a soap opera.
Super Reviewer
So much talent. So little result.
A powerhouse crime-drama that shines with the gritty storytelling of Scorsese. A strong script, a gorgeous cast and a great soundtrack are only a few things that stand out in this project. A tough, stylish, gritty and mesmerizing movie that explodes with drama and action. A powerful and outstanding movie that's riveting, exciting and action-packed. The best crime-drama since The Town. Writer, James Gray and Director, Guillaume Canet craft a dazzling and epic piece of crime and brotherhood. It's one of the best movies of 2014. An instant classic. A hard-hitting and deeply absorbing character study. A remarkable all-star cast. Clive Owen gives a powerful and explosive performance, its his best role in years. Billy Crudup is outstanding. Mila Kunis is terrific. Zoe Saldana is excellent. Marion Cotillard is fantastic. A film that will entertain you all the way to its beautifully tragic ending.
Crime runs in the family. Good Movie! Excellent story and good screenplay to go with it. However, need to be patient to follow the story line effectively through. Not a simple straightforward story which we usually see in movies. Good family crime drama. It is a thriller reaching the climax at the end. Like the ending too. The starting and the ending of the story blend together very well. In fact all the actors and actresses portrayed their parts very well indeed. The story is adapted from a French novel and movie. If you like simple straightforward action movie, then this is definitely not your type. New York, 1974. Fifty-year-old Chris (Clive Owen) has just been released on good behavior after several years in prison following a gangland murder. Reluctantly waiting for him outside the gates is his younger brother, Frank (Billy Crudup), a cop with a bright future. Chris and Frank have always been different, and their father, Leon (James Caan), who raised them alone, seems to favor Chris despite all his troubles. Yet blood ties are the ones that bind, and Frank, hoping that his brother has changed, is willing to give him a chance - he shares his home, finds him a job, and helps him reconnect with his children and his ex-wife, Monica (Marion Cotillard). But Chris' inevitable descent back into a life of crime proves to be the last in a long line of betrayals, and after his brother's latest transgressions, Frank banishes him from his life. But it's already too late, as the brothers' destiny is bound together, forever.
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