La Soga (The Butcher's Son)
Metascore
51 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 11 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 11
  3. Negative: 1 out of 11
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  1. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Frank Scheck
    70
    Although at times the film gets bogged down in psychological murkiness, the relentless pace and brooding charisma of its star overcomes its narrative deficiencies.
  2. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Jeannette Catsoulis
    70
    La Soga moves with a crazed energy that denies moral nuance. But the banal narrative (based on events in Mr. Perez's life) is elbowed aside by Josh Crook's eccentric direction and images that the cinematographer, Zeus Morand, brands with near-poetic intensity.
  3. Variety
    Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    70
    Made mainly by Yanks and New York-based Dominicans, the vibrant film bursts with local color and trades in very specific aspects of criminality, island-style.
  4. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    60
    There's nothing about Josh Crook's cop saga that will strike you as new, but he and his talented lead do build an epic feel into this gritty tale of corruption.
  5. Movieline
    Reviewed by: Michelle Orange
    55
    A film loaded with interest that somehow fails to be interesting, La Soga is inspired by true events and not much else.
  6. NPR
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    50
    La Soga isn't without redeeming qualities: Superfluous flashbacks aside, Crook keeps the action moving at a fast clip, cutting fluidly from the streets of Santiago to its criminal pipeline in Washington Heights, and he gets a sinister turn from Calderon, a veteran character actor who plays Rafa with a soulful swagger.
  7. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    50
    As the character grows soft and sentimental, so does La Soga, and the film's edge is terminally dulled by an avalanche of cliches and schmaltz.
  8. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    50
    If animal slaughter makes you queasy, this movie isn't for you. Along with several cockfights, there's a long scene in which a pig is butchered. The folks at PETA would be most unhappy. People don't fare much better than the animals, with blood flowing in a seemingly unending barrage of violence.
  9. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Aaron Hillis
    50
    If La Soga feels neither gritty nor poignant enough to hit that sweet spot, it's not for a lack of sincerity.
  10. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Lisa Rosman
    40
    Luisito (Perez) is the only vegetarian butcher working in the Dominican Republic-which may, alas, be the only original aspect of this well-intentioned, well-worn revenge saga.
  11. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Sam Adams
    25
    It's disheartening that a story with roots in autobiography, no matter how tentative, should end up as such an impersonal genre rehash.

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