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Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times
Metascore
48 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 13 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 13
  3. Negative: 2 out of 13
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  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    83
    At 73, Chomsky seems to understand everything about power and aggression -- except, that is, its centrality to human nature.
  2. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    75
    With Chomsky as its star, this documentary cannot go far wrong, even though filmmaker John Junkerman intersperses Chomsky footage with some really bad Japanese pop music.
  3. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    70
    A searching and wide-ranging debate has unfolded about America's response to terrorism and, more broadly, about the history and future of its role in the world. Mr. Junkerman's film is best understood as a necessary, if partisan, text in that continuing argument.
  4. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Janice Page
    63
    Would have benefited from putting a wider lens on the man and his detractors.
  5. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    60
    Anyone unfamiliar with Chomsky's work may be unsettled by his unblinking critique of the U.S. policy at a time when patriotism is the order of the day, and while he fails to offer any real solutions, his conscientious perspectives on the questions remain invaluable.
  6. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Marc Cooper
    60
    Plays more like a disjointed radio show with pictures -- The power of Chomsky's intellect and message are poorly served when pigeonholed by the hagiography of some of his supporters.
  7. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    60
    Chomsky deserves a more thoughtful documentary than Power and Terror, and in fact he got it in 1993's "Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media" --The film's main flaw is the absence of other voices -- From a cinematic point of view, two sides of an issue are always better than one.
  8. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    50
    Michael Moore makes many of the same points, with far more impact, in "Bowling for Columbine."
  9. Variety
    Reviewed by: Ronnie Scheib
    50
    Offers a lively introduction to the highly articulate political dissident and to his controversial views on 9/11.
  10. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Nathan Rabin
    40
    Doesn't aspire to do much more than disseminate Chomsky's ideas. On that level, it's a success, but on every other level, it's downright snooze-inducing.
  11. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Michael Atkinson
    40
    Bumrushed onto American screens like late-breaking news, the Japanese TV doc Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times is a relatively thin slice of Chomskiana -- a chapter from any of the man's many interview volumes, or even an hour of his C-SPAN dialogues, has more political substance.
  12. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    20
    Dull and meandering documentary.
  13. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Michael O'Sullivan
    20
    Its important if inflammatory message will bore all but Chomsky's fellow travelers to death.
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