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Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman
IFC Films

Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 68 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
6.0 out of 10
based on 15 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 2 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for disturbing images, nudity and brief sexuality

Starring Timothy Spall, Juliet Stevenson, and Eddie Marsan

Timothy Spall gives a devastating performance in the true-life story of Albert Pierrepoint, Britain's most notorious hangman. (IFC)


GENRE(S): Drama  
WRITTEN BY: Bob Mills
Jeff Pope
 
DIRECTED BY: Adrian Shergold  
RELEASE DATE: Theatrical: June 1, 2007 
RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: UK 

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...

88
TV Guide Ken Fox
British actor Timothy Spall gives a shattering performance as Albert Pierrepoint.
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88
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The key to the film is in the performances by Spall and Stevenson -- and by Marsan. The utter averageness of the characters, their lack of insight, their normality, contrasts with the subject matter in an unsettling way.
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80
Los Angeles Times Mark Olsen
At once desperately grim and unnervingly gripping, providing an exacting sense of the detail and procedure that went into death by hanging.
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75
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
This measured bio-production might be viewed as a lesser companion piece to "Vera Drake" -- although in the case of Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman, all the period-piece tastefulness makes for a story more instructive than emotionally tangible.
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75
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
This is a riveting story about a man who for years moonlighted as an anonymous hangman while holding a day job as a wholesale grocery delivery man.
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75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Kamal AL-Solaylee
Invites viewers to think critically about such weighty concepts as justice, atonement and personal accountability.
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75
Boston Globe Ty Burr
Like its hero, the movie doesn't flinch for most of its running time.
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70
Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
This 2005 feature has a drab "Masterpiece Theatre" feel, though Pierrepoint is a fascinating study in ethics: he takes pride in his work, wants his victims to die swiftly and painlessly, and considers hanging an absolution.
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70
The New York Times Stephen Holden
In Pierrepoint:The Last Hangman Timothy Spall sinks his teeth into one of the juiciest roles of his career.
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70
LA Weekly Ella Taylor
Like most television directors, Shergold is good with actors. Jowly, impassive and rigid with righteous dignity, Timothy Spall makes a wonderfully meticulous Pierrepoint.
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70
New York Magazine David Edelstein
Pierrepoint is worth seeing for Shergold's attention to process and for all the ghoulish details.
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58
Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
Dramatizes and occasionally overdramatizes Albert's 24-year career. For a while, it's a study of a decent man who puts his life into compartments so he can do terrible deeds.
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50
San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
A peculiar little film -- grim and disturbing yet perversely riveting.
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50
New York Post V.A. Musetto
You have to wonder just how true to life the melodramatic depiction of these events is, especially since the film was made in partnership with TV's "Masterpiece Theater."
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50
The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray
Pierrepoint is handsomely crafted and well-acted, but its sense of scale is as constricted as a noose.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 6.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jim G gave it a5:
Disappointing primarily because Spall has always been so dependable. Unfortunately, the role he is given here is johnny one-note: the weight of pierrepoint's conscience is there at the beginning at the end with no real dramatic build. The same can be same for the cinematography. No contrast is offered emotionally or visually.

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