City of God
City of God Image
Metascore
79 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 33 Critics What's this?

User Score
8.8 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 207 Ratings

Your Score
0 out of 10
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  • Starring: Alexandre Rodrigues, Matheus Nachtergaele
  • Summary: Welcome to the world's most notorious slum: Rio de Janeiro's 'City of God.' A place where combat photographers fear to tread, where Police rarely go, and residents are lucky if they live to the age of 20. This is the true story of a young man who grew up on these streets and whose ambition as a photographer is our window in and ultimately may be him only way out. (Miramax)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 33
  3. Negative: 0 out of 33
  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    100
    Breathtaking and terrifying, urgently involved with its characters, it announces a new director of great gifts and passions: Fernando Meirelles.
  2. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Megan Lehmann
    100
    Like a bomb exploding in a fireworks factory: It's fierce and shocking and dazzling and wonderful.
  3. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    80
    A tightly woven tapestry of extraordinary breadth, and director Fernando Meirelles's control over the material is extraordinary.
  4. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: John Powers
    60
    But if City of God whirs with energy for nearly its full 130-minute running time, it is oddly lacking in emotional heft for a work that aspires to the epic -- it is essentially a tarted-up exploitation picture whose business is to make ghastly things fun.

See all 33 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 74 out of 82
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 82
  3. Negative: 4 out of 82
  1. VonSeux
    10
    Filmogaphy on this move is an evolution of anything hollywood ever acomplished. A real lesson on how to film a story that screams reality. One of the most violent movies ever made is also one of the most beautifully filmed.… Expand
  2. DiegoCM
    10
    Amazing movie, director Fernado teach us that the good cinema is everywhere, the performance are incredible, and all the history of this picture have sense with the real life now, is amazing and maybe one of the best movies foreign language.… Expand
  3. Lawrence
    5
    I actually feel my grade may be too high. Think the facelessly cheap Black Hawk Down or Spielberg's idiotic mechanical War of the Worlds, only relocated to the slums of Brazil and replete with its own set of hollow cardboard characters. Honestly, what's all the fuss about? For the record, I vastly prefer video games where, y'know, I'm in CONTROL. And boast better dialogue. They exist, ppl.… Expand
  4. DaveH.
    4
    Such a waste of great performances. No characters are fleshed out to the extent that they become interesting in any way. Rocket, despite being the protagonist, takes a passive, peripheral backseat to the action. The young Lil' Dice is played brilliantly and is a very convincing psychopath, but we get to know little about either him or other characters. My interest in the film wandered constantly with so much of the narrative being devoted to exposition. Inconsequential informaion about characters' history and the logistics of the favella drug circuits is divulged by the truckload while the actual story plods throughout. Dramatically hollow and inertly paced, and this is meant to be a thriller? I have no desire to see this film again.… Expand

See all 82 User Reviews

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