Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

38 12 Rounds
48 17 Again
76 Adventureland
48 Angels & Demons
54 Battle for Terra
xx Bruno
80 Coraline
40 Dance Flick
83 Drag Me to Hell
72 Earth
45 Fast & Furious
61 Fighting
34 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
72 Gran Torino
73 Hangover, The
47 Hannah Montana: The Movie
51 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
54 Imagine That
41 Knowing
32 Land of the Lost
56 Monsters vs. Aliens
34 My Life in Ruins
51 My Sister's Keeper
46 Next Day Air
42 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
54 Observe and Report
25 Obsessed
48 Proposal, The
70 Public Enemies
61 Soloist, The
83 Star Trek
64 State of Play
55 Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, The
52 Terminator Salvation
35 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
77 Under the Sea 3D
88 Up
43 X-Men Origins: Wolverine
34 Year One

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

sort by name

sort by score

67 $9.99
75 24 City
66 Adoration
74 Afghan Star
48 Alien Trespass
56 American Violet
82 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57 Away We Go
81 Beaches of Agnes, The
62 Big Man Japan
28 Big Shot-Caller, The
78 Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55 Brothers Bloom, The
82 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx Call of the Wild
63 Cheri
62 Cherry Blossoms
63 Dead Snow
65 Departures
18 Downloading Nancy
58 Easy Virtue
70 End of the Line, The
77 Every Little Step
64 Examined Life
80 Food, Inc.
38 Gigantic
56 Girl from Monaco, The
67 Girlfriend Experience, The
87 Gomorrah
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Great Buck Howard, The
79 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx Home
82 Hunger
91 Hurt Locker, The
16 I Hate Valentine's Day
81 Il Divo
54 Is Anybody There?
71 Jerichow
58 Julia
74 Lemon Tree
36 Life is Hot in Cracktown
40 Limits of Control, The
42 Little Ashes
64 Lymelife
50 Management
57 Merry Gentleman, The
66 Moon
35 New York
62 Not Forgotten
xx Offshore
78 O'Horten
64 Outrage
40 Paris 36
54 Pontypool
71 Pressure Cooker
52 Quiet Chaos
83 Revanche
67 Rudo y Cursi
86 Seraphine
65 Sex Positive
70 Shall We Kiss?
77 Sin Nombre
59 Sleep Dealer
74 Song of Sparrows, The
54 Stoning of Soraya M., The
82 Sugar
84 Summer Hours
61 Sunshine Cleaning
28 Surveillance
42 Tennessee
63 Tetro
64 Throw Down Your Heart
80 Tokyo Sonata
63 Tokyo!
70 Tony Manero
74 Treeless Mountain
88 Tulpan
74 Two Lovers
83 Tyson
83 U2 3D
60 Under Our Skin
69 Unmistaken Child
69 Valentino: The Last Emperor
22 What Goes Up
45 Whatever Works
57 Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Undertow
United Artists / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corporation


7.3

based on 30 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 18 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for violence

Starring Jamie Bell, Devon Alan, Josh Lucas, Dermot Mulroney, Kristen Stewart, Shiri Appleby, Robert Longstreet, and Eddie Rouse

Director David Gordon Green marries action, dirt, sweat and menace as he spins a tale of the violent legacy between two generations of brothers. (United Artists)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Joe Conway David Gordon Green Lingard Jervey (story)
DIRECTED BY:	David Gordon Green
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: April 26, 2005 Theatrical: October 22, 2004
RUNNING TIME:	107 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

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...

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Green takes us to that place where we keep feelings that we treasure, but are a little afraid of.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Despite a few narrative confusions, I found it pure magic.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

For anyone who likes classic, offbeat American moviemaking, in the rural-thriller genre from "Moonrise" to "Macon County Jail," Undertow is one to check. Seething with violence, bleeding with lyricism, it's a poem from the junk heap, a cry from the swamp.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

The movie builds slowly to its grinding climax, and the suspense -- the standard by which a thriller must primarily be judged -- is first-rate.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Undertow has the plain, stark, disturbing quality that marked the original "Cape Fear" and "In Cold Blood."

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Although there is violence and danger, this is less about the chase than it is about the relationship between the siblings.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

It's a dreamy Southern gothic, a la "Night of the Hunter," with an emphasis on the dreamy.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Taking great artistic chances in storytelling and performance style, Green finally fulfills the promise he showed in his fine 2000 drama "George Washington" as a terrific builder of mood, atmosphere, and psychological suspense.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

In equal parts powerful and peculiar, the film is not my favorite of Green’s, but it helps solidify his position as one of the most visionary young directors around.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Conforms to many of the tropes of a formula thriller but, aided by an evocative Philip Glass score and Tim Orr's beautifully naturalistic cinematography, it transcends the genre.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

As with the 70's films of Terrence Malick, one of Undertow's producers, the more intoxicated it becomes with rural desolation and fecundity, the more deeply in touch it puts you with its characters' souls.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

The result is a movie that doesn't add up to the sum of its parts, yet some of those parts connect deeply anyway.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Undertow may prove the least immediately satisfying of Green's films, but it remains an achievement, emotionally rich and rife with biblical and mythic undertones.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

However cloying, the movie creates a powerful vortex. It's surprisingly visceral-at times almost thrilling.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

To call Undertow a '70s-style revenge movie is accurate, but those unfamiliar with Green who expect a typical genre picture may wonder why it takes so long to get to the action.

Film Threat Don R. Lewis

Green makes you think and his films are so quiet and subtle, you almost find yourself in the film, wrapped up in the moment.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

Did I fall in love with Undertow? Not in the least. But I liked it alright, and amidst the mediocrity, even rot, that constitutes 98% of contemporary American movies, that'll do fine.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The truth is that Undertow is like a conventional Hollywood movie operating on half its cylinders.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Green may be right to avoid the melodramatic waves of the conventional thriller. But, if so, he needs to dive a lot deeper than this -- there's just not enough under in Undertow.

Empire Anna Smith

While the quirky structure could be taken as a bold move, the story still feels frustratingly incomplete, rendering the preceding hour or so a tantalising glimpse at what could have been.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

It's no go. Green and Gothic make for a clumsy fit.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

It's an exercise in 1970s mood. But all the film does is conjure, channel, and allude, until there's really no movie of Green's own for an audience to grab onto.

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

Loses momentum midway into the boys' journey.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

This southern-fried mess of poetic crime-movie cliches is redeemed by standout performances.

Variety Scott Foundas

A deep-fried piece of Southern Gothic that wears its unpleasantness like a merit badge.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Undertow becomes unbearably imitative and predictable. It's a kids-in-peril B horror movie in the guise of an art film.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White

Despite picturesque episodes and nicely observed characters, the film lacks suspense.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

The naturalistic style of the film is completely at odds with the hokey melodrama.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Undertow seems to be straining to say something at once tragic and heartwarming about fathers, sons and brothers, but I'm damned if I know what it is.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

It's just sort of trying.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.3 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ryan F. gave it a2:
One of the most inane movies I've seen. Jamie Bell's performance is the only reason it gets any points at all.

john r gave it a10:
Folks, you just don't get it. I live in the south, where people say and do crazy things, and too often die tragically. Melodrama and death are centrpieces of southern culture. Also, the relationships between the adult characters are spot on (not bad acting).

K. A. gave it a10:
Completely mesmerizing mood piece. Wonderully insightful and original; come on people! open your eyes.

Tony B. gave it a4:
Well-acted...that's the best thing about this slow and ponderous film. The plot has too many contrivances for its own good, and the cinematography, while frequently quite effective, sometimes becomes pretentious.

Scott W. gave it a2:
Poorly written. Poorly acted. Poorly directed. Like a band playing out of tune with a conductor who has a tin ear. I'm surprised that this wasn't universally panned. A southern lit attempt that is utterly lacking in nuance.

Eldon gave it a3:
I see some of the nice things the "critics" are saying about this movie, Roger Ebert I have respect for, but Roger and the rest of them have missed the mark on this one. The only thing worthy of viewing in this movie is Jamie Bell. He's the only magic the movie has. Josh Lucas is terrible in this movie. His acting looks dialed in and flat, he's a wash in this one. I could say a lot more and I won't. So, unless you are a huge Jamie Bell fan and you have to see everything he does, SKIP this movie.

Greg gave it a4:
Not bad acting by actors portraying creeps. This movie was slow and dour and unengaging.

Undertow United Artists / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corporation

Undertow
United Artists / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corporation