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Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.
All Critics (14) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (6) | Rotten (8)
The movie itself apparently isn't sure the murders themselves are lurid enough. So it adds a few things that didn't happen, plus some 21st-century music.
The movie ends on such a note as to cause the audience to wonder how long it will take before "A," of Pretty Little Liars fame, starts leaving Lizzie Borden an incriminating text or two.
It's slow and heavy-handed, tedious almost throughout. An average episode of Oxygen's Snapped isn't this dull, and has more interesting things to say about women who kill.
Lizzie Borden takes an ax to many assumptions -- including the one that Lifetime movies aren't worth watching.
Lizzie comes across more as a whiny, moody teen than a psychotic murderess, and Ricci is much-too-attractive to play the dowdy, crazy-eyed Lizzie familiar from those faded black-and-white photos (just sayin').
Christina Ricci does a haunting turn as notorious hatchet swinger Lizzie Borden.
Lifetime's made-for-TV movie Lizzie Borden Took an Axe covers the events of the murder and ensuing trial, but doesn't really get any deeper into the crime than the schoolyard chant does.
Included are the trial and all the trimmings. What's missing is the horror of the event. Except for a few shots of dear old daddy's caved-in face, there's not much gore, even for a TV movie.
There's a too-quick and convenient wrap-up to the film, but that's the only real sour note Lizzie Borden Took an Ax hits.
Brutal murders, courtroom drama in historical drama.
Lifetime has a knack for attracting top-tier talent for what often ends up being silly little movies, but Lizzie Borden seemed different -- everyone was having a lot of fun without getting too over-the-top campy.
The lack of focus, and a protagonist who seemingly can't decide which movie she's in, makes this Lifetime movie a slick but unsatisfying swing and a miss.
From Lifetime comes the TV movie Lizzie Borden Took an Ax, a chilling drama about the notorious killer. Christina Ricci stars as Lizzie Borden, a New England socialite who feels oppressed and resentful toward her parents, and when they are brutally murdered she finds herself as the prime suspect. Told as a murder mystery, there are hints at a possible third party committing the murders, or that Lizzie had a psychotic break and was unaware of what she had done. However, the writing can be a little weak at times as the courtroom drama isn't exactly riveting. Yet the costumes and sets are especially well-done and look authentic to the time period. And the soundtrack, which is made up of modern alternative rock, offers an interesting juxtaposition to the visual aesthetic. Lizzie Borden Took an Ax meanders a bit, but overall it's a suspenseful psychological thriller.
Super Reviewer
[img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img]
I saw this on Lifetime Network. I found it very interesting, and nicely done. Learned some new things to the case that I never knew..that's always a good thing.
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