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Narc

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 34 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 9 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller
Written by: Joe Carnahan
Directed by: Joe Carnahan
Release Date:
Theatrical: December 20, 2002
DVD: June 17, 2003
Running Time: 102 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for strong brutal violence, drug content and pervasive language
Starring Ray Liotta, Jason Patric, Chi McBride, Busta Rhymes, Anne Openshaw, Richard Chevolleau, and John Ortiz
A fast-paced, hard-boiled tale of cops and scandal, drugs and deception.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Smokin' Aces
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Carnahan alternates gritty neo-realism with bursts of extreme stylization -- most notably in a breathless opening chase filmed with handheld cameras -- but thankfully, his stylistic flourishes are in the service of the film's story, not the other way around.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker David Denby
A blood-soaked, hellish experience -- a midnight special for lovers of a violent genre -- yet it has been made with a mixture of ferocity and sweetness which leaves one exhausted but at peace. [27 January 2003, p. 94]
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Fresh and raw like a blown-out vein, Narc takes a walking-dead, cop-flick subgenre and beats new life into it.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Narc is as cop movie as a cop movie can be.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Ron Wells
Patric and Liotta are as tense and great as they've ever been.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
As a director Carnahan definitely has the goods: the opening foot chase, a sequence that's been done to death, is genuinely terrifying.
Read Full Review >Film Threat K.J. Doughton
It joins Rush, The Onion Field, Serpico, Seven, The French Connection, Traffic, and Prince of the City as a grimy, hyper-real exploration of the emotional and psychological prices paid by cops.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
Narc is convincing, an entertaining, grimy view of the traps of machismo tucked inside a cop thriller.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Dan Fienberg
Taut and well-acted, faltering only when the filmmaker loses faith in the power of his story.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
This may be the most uncompromisingly raw police drama since "Across 110th Street," starring Anthony Quinn and Yaphet Kotto.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Mark Caro
With such skilled filmmaking and committed acting on display, Narc is far more a score than a bust.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Without a hint of regret, the filmmaker freely borrows from such diverse sources as Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Oliver Stone, and the TV program "C.S.I."
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
A no-bull throwback to 1970s action films. It zips along with B-movie verve while adding the rich details and go-for-broke acting that heralds something special.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
It's a cop movie that refuses to cop out in the usual way.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Patric and Liotta get the chance to do some heavy riffing on themes of honor, sacrifice, selling out and self-destructing, and the bleak, smeared world of drugs and violence is brought to the fore with feverish style.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The investigation itself must remain undescribed here. But its ending is a neat and ironic exercise in poetic justice.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
An unusually vicious and unforgiving study of police corruption, Narc is a stylistic throwback to such classic 1970s cop dramas as "The French Connection" and "Serpico," with a 21st century helping of the old ultra-violence.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Makes "Training Day" -- which was admittedly pretty tough -- seem like a Disney cartoon by comparison.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
What could have been a run-of-the- mill story becomes a superb policier in the hands of writerdirector Joe Carnahan.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Michael Atkinson
Hardly a scene goes by without a digitally fractured flashback or spasm of editing punctuation, rupturing the movie's otherwise carefully wrought sense of authenticity.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Jeff Stark
The direction of Joe Carnahan, who also wrote the script, is stylish without being overbearing, the actors look comfortable in their roles and the modest twists unfold at a pace that doesn't seem ridiculous. The film would probably make a good episode of "Homicide: Life on the Streets."
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
It's a stunner that sadly grows tiresome at the end.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
This is a stirring movie, if relentless intensity, handheld camera work, cover-your-eyes violence and ear-splitting yelling matches are what you're craving.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
As the most diabolically focused and politically incorrect cop this side of Popeye Doyle, Liotta is a hot prospect for this year's supporting-actor Oscar.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Beneath its frantic surfaces, Narc is terribly ordinary, built on a mystery that will puzzle only those who have never watched a TV cop drama.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
Some might find the whole thing exhilarating, but exhausting is more the word that comes to this man's mind.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Frustratingly, Carnahan barely trusts his storytelling to keep our attention long enough to get through a scene without some grisly cutaway -- a gun to the head, the writhing wounded.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Ray Liotta and Jason Patric do some of their best work in their underwritten roles, but don't be fooled: Nobody deserves any prizes here.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf
Authenticity and plausibility get gunned down from the get-go, but if explosive shaky-cam ultraviolence and frequent extreme close-ups of greasy whiskers are your bag, this hyperactive wannabe may count as something of a score.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis
To transcend cliché, movies like Narc need the passion of a heretic who can take stock characters with their stock predicaments and turn them inside out, the way Curtis Hanson and Quentin Tarantino do. Blood, guts and flash aren't enough.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Liotta's acting can't redeem senseless violence.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The movie is designed to show off Liotta's acting skills, but pointless mayhem and sheer nastiness crowd out any virtues it might have had.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
J Bridge gave it a9:
I don't understand what this deal is with people vomiting over the violence in this movie. The violence is in this movie to add reality. It was by no means over the top. At all. The movie was very well acted and the plot kept me very interested. What I loved most was that I had Liotta pegged for the murder from the beginning, and I was so surprised at the end. The revelation was actually a REVELATION.
Michael M. gave it a 9:
This film is quite possibly the best cop movie ever made! Flawed at some parts, but still a pulse raising thriller. Jason Patric stars as a police detective married with one infant. After accidently shooting a pregnant civilian while trying to catch an insane drug dealer injecting various people with cyanide, he is assigned to work with Lt. Henry Oaks (Ray Liotta - as a angry, ill-tempered, and anything but by-the-book cop, who uses extreme violence towards hardened criminals. Jason Patric and Ray Liotta's job is to help solve the case of the murder of cop Michael Calvese (Ray Liotta's ex-partner), and catch the person who killed him. Ray Liotta wants to kill the cop killer, and Jason Patric wants to book him. I would highly reccomend this feature to anyone looking for high-rate suspense in the movie theater. Hands down Ray Liotta's best performance! He should have received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for this. (1/30/03)
Akhil K. gave it a 10:
I dont believe it. The best cop movie ever, if not the best thriller. As far as the violence, it is isn't really close to some of the movies i've seen. Compare this with Black Hawk Down or even Bad Boys II, it is isnt overly gruesome. Sure the former is a war movie and the latter was "comedy". But at its peaks (which was not surprisingly, the beginning and the end), it clearly deserves an Oscar. Which is what i would have given it.
Josh V. gave it a 10:
This movie is everything great movies should be: Epic, Emotional and above all, thoroughly original. Haven't seen one like this in quite a while.
Marc-o gave it an 8:
For a film noted for its violence i felt that although graphic it was quite well restrained as well as shocking. Both Liotta and Patrick were subtle in there roles as very troubled men in scenes that could so easily have been overacted. This was a movie of contrast both characters fundamentally good but whoose flaws seem to be eating them from the inside out. Overall a dark little number that proves that sometimes a smaller budget can enhance a movie as visual effects take a back seat to inventive camera work and actors acting as apposed to reacting to whatever the director throws at them.
Mr. D. gave it an 8:
It was and all-round excellent movie.
Matthieu C. gave it a 2:
Gruesome violence. Most part of the film are focus on cinematography and bloods and guts and bullets... The acting occupy second role, and the script...letting us down... is far behind the movie.
