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Critics Consensus: A uniquely character-driven thriller with a finely composed cast and some outstanding direction from Kelly Reichardt, Night Moves bolsters its thought-provoking themes with compelling drama.
Critic Consensus: A uniquely character-driven thriller with a finely composed cast and some outstanding direction from Kelly Reichardt, Night Moves bolsters its thought-provoking themes with compelling drama.
All Critics (145) | Top Critics (43) | Fresh (125) | Rotten (20) | DVD (1)
Succeeds mightily when it comes to creating tension but struggles a little more with making its plot run together smoothly.
I'd say this is a movie about alienation that, in the spirit of the boldest activism, isn't afraid to be ostracized itself. You may beg to differ, and I'd say that's the point.
Night Moves, including its title, borders on generic.
Reichardt wisely leaves it for her audience to decide.
"Night Moves" is an unexpected pleasure, offering more than what we expect and taking its time to deliver.
You may not buy the third-act developments, but Reichardt and her actors see to it that you believe in how these people got to that third act in the first place.
Captivating performances from Jesse Eisenberg and Dakota Fanning propel Night Moves into a league of its own, whose tension is felt romantically, ethically and emotionally.
Methodical, moody and breezily reflective...has a slow-footed pacing but registers with quiet resonance in its message about lingering environmental indifference and the retaliation against the establishment that allows for such blatant negligence.
The stakes are real... but so are the costs of action and "Night Moves" is all about responsibility.
This is Eisenberg's most introspective performance to date, and taking cues from his performance, the film unfolds with a steady, measured pace.
So much potential overshadowed by poor execution that begs the all important question: Why should we care?
[Night Moves] can be a bit one-note at times, but watching the characters live in and respond to the trouble they've caused for themselves is half the fun.
It does a great job to let us slowly find out what it is about instead of resorting to exposition, but what could have been a thought-provoking story about ecoterrorism/environmentalism turns out to be a sterile thriller with a frustrating, utterly predictable second half.
Super Reviewer
It is a very slow paced thriller drama directed by Kelly Reichardt and written by Reichardt and Jonathan Raymond. Interestingly directed, it had lots of substance which gets even better with the stars Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, Peter Sarsgaard, Alia Shawkat, and James LeGros. Another of the films shown in the main competition section of the 70th Venice International Film Festival and at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival which definitely needs a special attention! The story of three radical environmentalists - Josh, Dena, and Harmon, who are teaming up to execute the most spectacular direct action event of their lives: the explosion of a hydroelectric dam, was more story based and the actors were wisely chosen to make that story more effective. Regarding the story, Edward R. Pressman Film filed a lawsuit in September 2012, demanding that filming cease because of too many similarities to Edward Abbey's novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, planned to be adapted into an authorized film by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. Kelly Reichardt did a good job, but I wish it was outstanding! There was plenty of room for improvement, but even this was more than enough for a happy audience. The only problem I really had was the ending. Some people claim that it was a smart decision to live the ending to the viewer, but to me the feel was that something was simply unfinished!
From Jesse Eisenberg at his best, to Dakota Fanning proving she is a worthy actress, you would think that a film like "Night Moves" would have much more to offer than just that, but that is really all I got out of this film in terms of enjoyment. The cinematography is great and the director did an amazing job with the cast, but the story was just not interesting or exciting enough to justify these elements which ended up grabbing my interest and losing it in a matter of minutes periodically throughout this film. In no way is this a bad film, in fact, I can see how some people would call it a masterpiece, but it is a very slow moving picture with little else to offer than technical aspects and great performances. "Night Moves" had a screenplay that did not take any risks and that bothered me a lot. Overall, it is a very well-constructed thriller that I probably will never watch again.
In her own low key way, Kelly Reichardt continues to move away from character driven movies to more plot driven ones with her latest film "Night Moves." While not entirely successful, she does make a couple of good points about the trouble that saboteurs and terrorists have in trying to get their points across to the general public with their violent acts. On a much more personal level than the plot to bomb a dam in Oregon, there is the trouble that Josh(Jesse Eisenberg) has in communicating his feelings toward Dena(Dakota Fanning), his fellow conspirator, along with Harmon(Peter Sarsgaard), an unreliable veteran, known. In any case, Eisenberg has no trouble conveying his character's emotions without that much dialogue. But that same low key approach can also work against the movie which does not so much end, as just sort of runs out of gas eventually. Another example would be a key scene that while at first might seem disposable is actually a flashback to the first time Josh meets Dena. It is at a screening of an environmental film. During the Q & A, Dena asks the filmmaker what she can do. It is Josh, scowling in the corner before this, who does have an answer for her.
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