Bomb the System
Metascore
52 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 14 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 14
  3. Negative: 2 out of 14
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  1. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Eric Campos
    80
    Excellent acting, great music, amazing artwork and gorgeous Christopher Doyle type cinematography make this film an absolute treat to sit through. It's like a big piece of candy.
  2. Variety
    Reviewed by: David Rooney
    80
    A richly textured drama with an angry poetic edge that gets inside the obsessive subculture of New York graffiti artists, Bomb the System signals the arrival of a talented filmmaker in NYU film graduate Adam Bhala Lough.
  3. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Peter L'Official
    70
    A needlessly circuitous plot twist leaves a bitter taste, but not before the film's scruffy charm does its work.
  4. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    70
    Bomb the System, which rides on a subtle hip-hop soundtrack, might be described as soulful pulp; cult recognition awaits it.
  5. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Frank Scheck
    60
    Should attract some interest in urban theatrical situations before settling into cult video status.
  6. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    60
    In the end it's all seductive surface and no substance, but Lough has a bold eye and a vivid sense of uniquely urban beauty.
  7. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    60
    Has an exhilarating edge. It's only when they open their mouths that the movie gets into trouble.
  8. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    50
    Well acted and ably directed, if not very probing about its subject of underclass youth.
  9. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    50
    The first feature from Adam Bhala Lough is brashly passionate in its desire to express the power and validity of graffiti art. But it's also preachy and single-minded, populated by a world of sympathetic heroes and hissable villains.
  10. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    50
    Visually dazzling and dramatically trite -- it's virtuoso piffle.
  11. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Crust
    50
    Hurting the film is the fact that the central character, Anthony, is so self-absorbed.
  12. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    42
    The film half-heartedly paints their actions as rebel-chic heroism even when it has all the integrity of tomcats spraying outside their yards, and it ends up just as confused as the characters.
  13. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    38
    A mild, slow-moving drama that belatedly tries to argue that graffiti writers are political artists, not an urban blight.
  14. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ernest Hardy
    30
    As Bomb snakes its way toward tragedy, it grates rather than entices. The actors come off more as poseurs than as characters, and the film's political and cultural insights are superficial and old hat.

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User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. [Anonymous]
    10
    Beautiful cinematography is the highlight of this film which is a strong first effort by Ivan Bhala Lough. Look for good things to come from him in the future.… Full Review »
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