The Divide
Metascore
28 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 17 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 17
  3. Negative: 12 out of 17
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  1. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Rick Groen
    Jan 19, 2012
    38
    Valuable life lessons always come at a steep price, and this one is no exception. Sorry, but you'll have to shell out for The Divide and then suffer through its nearly two hours of bloody inanities. Weigh the balance, make your choice.
  2. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    Jan 12, 2012
    38
    It's doom that we're meant to feel here. And repulsion. I hate to say, but I shrugged.
  3. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Ed Gonzalez
    Jan 8, 2012
    38
    In Xavier Gens's The Divide, the revolution will not be televised, only the degradation of human civility--and in a mire of clichés more toxic to the mind than the radioactive dust that causes everyone's hair to fall out in the wake of a nuclear explosion.
  4. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: David DeWitt
    Jan 12, 2012
    30
    We wait, from one cringe-inducing, hide-your-face-from-the-screen act after another, to see how much worse the behavior will become.
  5. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Nick Pinkerton
    Jan 10, 2012
    30
    Neither intellectually nor viscerally engaging, what The Divide finally offers audiences is the not-terribly-edifying, stagnant experience of being locked in a basement with a pack of assholes.
  6. Variety
    Reviewed by: Joe Leydon
    Jan 7, 2012
    30
    Plodding and repetitive in its efforts to maintain pressure-cooker intensity, The Divide resembles nothing so much as an extended "Twilight Zone" episode as it brings a sci-fi twist to a familiar scenario about stressed characters who bring out the worst in each other while trapped in close quarters.
  7. NPR
    Reviewed by: Mark Jenkins
    Jan 24, 2012
    25
    As the loosely aligned band of survivors turns into a pack of sociopathic loners, the only reasonable conclusion is that they were all pretty rotten to begin with.
  8. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    Jan 11, 2012
    20
    The cynic in me notes that the whole, dismal enterprise is just a cheap steal from Roger Corman's 1955 film "Day the World Ended." At least that single set-bound cheapie had a three-eyed mutant to enliven the otherwise stagy proceedings.
  9. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Frank Scheck
    Jan 11, 2012
    20
    Relentlessly unpleasant and nihilistic in its approach and execution, The Divide is best appreciated as a virtual instruction manual on how not to behave during a crisis.
  10. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Michael O'Sullivan
    Jan 19, 2012
    12
    As it is, The Divide is simply noxious for noxiousness's sake. French director Xavier Gens and writers Karl Mueller and Eron Sheean almost seem to take a kind of perverse pride in seeing how far they can go.
  11. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Sara Stewart
    Jan 13, 2012
    12
    The only possible relief from director Xavier Gens' abusively bleak survivalist scenario is how implausible it is.
  12. New York Observer
    Reviewed by: Rex Reed
    Jan 10, 2012
    0
    Expect the dregs for weeks to come, but I can safely say with absolutely no trepidation that it is unlikely to get worse than a lurid, lewd and loathsome shockfest called The Divide.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.1 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 26 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 12
  3. Negative: 5 out of 12
  1. ilscuro
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. I can't understand all the negativity towards this movie, yes it's brutal and hard to watch, but try to imagine the feeling of being trapped in a basement after a nuclear war, knowing all your friends and loved ones have died, the feeling of helplessness that you're going to die of starvation or worse, and knowing it will take a few hundred years for the radiation to subside, the way certain characters descend into madness is portrayed very well, may i suggest all the haters of the film stick to romcoms in future.… Full Review »
  2. MikefromAngus
    4
    I really enjoyed the first 30 to 40 minutes of this movie. It kept me intrested and wondered in what will happen next. But after the 40 mins into the movie, the movie became very boring and pointless.… Full Review »
  3. Tkwz
    5
    The only thing I will never undestand in these kind of movies is... why does the worst ALWAYS happen? Worst case scenario in every single case! The characters put inside that basement were impossible mix all by themselves, paired with that it just makes this movie completely detached from reality. Yes, I understand the point authors try to make, but you need at least one character you can relate to and a setting that seems adequately plausible to immerse yourself in it, otherwise it's just like a nightmare, you wake up and realize it was total ****… Full Review »
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