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Pierrepoint
Metascore
68 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 15 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
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  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    88
    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.
  2. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    88
    British actor Timothy Spall gives a shattering performance as Albert Pierrepoint.
  3. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Mark Olsen
    80
    At once desperately grim and unnervingly gripping, providing an exacting sense of the detail and procedure that went into death by hanging.
  4. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    75
    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.
  5. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    75
    Like its hero, the movie doesn't flinch for most of its running time.
  6. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Kamal AL-Solaylee
    75
    Invites viewers to think critically about such weighty concepts as justice, atonement and personal accountability.
  7. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    75
    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.
  8. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    70
    Pierrepoint is worth seeing for Shergold's attention to process and for all the ghoulish details.
  9. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    70
    Like most television directors, Shergold is good with actors. Jowly, impassive and rigid with righteous dignity, Timothy Spall makes a wonderfully meticulous Pierrepoint.
  10. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    70
    In Pierrepoint:The Last Hangman Timothy Spall sinks his teeth into one of the juiciest roles of his career.
  11. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    70
    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.
  12. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: M. E. Russell
    58
    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.
  13. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    50
    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."
  14. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Ruthe Stein
    50
    A peculiar little film -- grim and disturbing yet perversely riveting.
  15. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Noel Murray
    50
    Pierrepoint is handsomely crafted and well-acted, but its sense of scale is as constricted as a noose.
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User Score
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No user score yet- Awaiting 1 more rating

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. JimG
    5
    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.… Full Review »
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