critics consensus

Driven by a uniquely stark mood and propulsive direction, Essential Killing excels due to an unrelentingly visceral performance from Vincent Gallo. Read critic reviews

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Movie Info

A Taliban soldier (Vincent Gallo) struggles to survive after he escapes his captors and flees into the Polish countryside.

Rating:

R
Genre:

war, mystery and thriller
Original Language:

English
Director:

Jerzy Skolimowski
Producer:

Ewa Piaskowska, Jerzy Skolimowski
Writer:

Jerzy Skolimowski, Ewa Piaskowska
Release Date (Streaming):

Aug 10, 2016
Runtime:

1h 24m
Production Co:

Skopia Film, Element Pictures, Cylinder Production

Cast & Crew

Vincent Gallo
Mohammed

Emmanuelle Seigner
Margaret

Zach Cohen
American Contractor 1

Iftach Ophir
American Contractor 2

Nicolai Cleve Broch
Helicopter Pilot 1

Stig Frode Henriksen
Helicopter Pilot 2

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for Essential Killing

All Critics (52) | Top Critics (25) | Fresh (40) | Rotten (12)

It's great screen acting, as [Vincent] Gallo expressively uses his body to make it part of the film's overall design.

May 5, 2020 | Full Review…

Ben Sachs
Chicago Reader
Essential Killing goes so far out of its way to avoid political commentary that the commentary that remains is slim, reduced to a familiar, though occasionally striking, statement on man's animal nature.

May 5, 2020 | Rating: B- | Full Review…

Scott Tobias
AV Club
The religious-themed inserts are incongruous in a project that so studiously sidesteps political markers and prove an unwanted distraction in the cinema.

May 5, 2020 | Full Review…

Tara Brady
Irish Times
The violent perversity of some of the man's actions throws things off to an extent and, ultimately, [Jerzy] Skolimowski's bag of narrative tricks is not ample enough to fill out even the brief running time.

May 5, 2020 | Full Review…

Todd McCarthy
indieWire
Despite skillful assemblage, the script's plausibility issues increasingly undermine engagement, even with the generous argument that the pic is a parable and operates according to more poetic laws of realism.

May 5, 2020 | Full Review…

Leslie Felperin
Variety
At times engrossing and not without palpable suspense, it nonetheless amounts to a provocative doodle.

May 5, 2020 | Full Review…

Eric Kohn
indieWire
Once [Jerzy] Skolimowski has established his story's visual momentum, it goes precisely nowhere.

May 5, 2020 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Paul Whitington
Irish Independent
Tightly controlled by veteran director Jerzy Skolimowski and beautifully shot on location in Israel and Poland, Essential Killing is an exciting if wildly implausible fable.

May 5, 2020 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Allan Hunter
Daily Express (UK)
Too often in cinema, "existential" serves as code for "boring." That would be a mistaken assumption about this film from Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski.

May 5, 2020 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Chris Knight
National Post
The chases and fights are mostly well done, but no one is going to confuse Essential Killing with a Renny Harlin thrill ride, and the 'action', such as it is, is exhausted in the first half of the film.

May 5, 2020 | Rating: 4/10 | Full Review…

Pat Kewley
PopMatters
For all its allegorical heft, it never finally shucks off the impression that it is a well-made oddity.

May 5, 2020 | Full Review…

Jasper Rees
The Arts Desk
It isn't as easy as I'd like with shoddy performances hurting the authenticity to make us want [Vincent] Gallo to laugh from the absurdity of it all instead of cower in fear, but we make due.

May 5, 2020 | Rating: 6/10 | Full Review…

Jared Mobarak
Jaredmobarak.com