Grizzly Man
Lions Gate Films | Release Date: August 12, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
87
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
34
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Brilliant, poetic, and utterly unique. Read full review
100
PremiereGlenn Kenny
Herzog not only tells an incredible story but implies a dark metaphysic of the natural world that makes this film unsettlingly larger than its human subject. Read full review
100
The New YorkerDavid Denby
A brilliant documentary about an American saint and fool--a man who understands everything about nature except death. Read full review
100
VarietyScott Foundas
A brilliant portrait of adventure, activism, obsession and potential madness that ranks among helmer Werner Herzog's strongest work. Read full review
100
Washington PostDesson Thomson
A small masterpiece of a documentary that takes us into the heart of a complex darkness. Read full review
100
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Mr. Herzog is also no ordinary filmmaker. It is the rare documentary like Grizzly Man, which has beauty and passion often lacking in any type of film, that makes you want to grab its maker and head off to the nearest bar to discuss man's domination of nature and how Disney's cute critters reflect our profound alienation from the natural order. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The documentary is an uncommon meeting between Treadwell's loony idealism, and Herzog's bleak worldview. Read full review
100
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
It's Treadwell's contradictions and controversies that fascinate Herzog the filmmaker, inspiring him to create this enthralling documentary portrait, his best film in years. Read full review
100
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Werner Herzog's magnificent tragedy, Grizzly Man, a Shakespearean character study that packs the sheer terror of "The Blair Witch Project." Read full review
100
EmpireDan Jolin
A complex, unique and engrossing journey into the murky recesses of an unhinged mind. It really needs to be seen to be believed. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
A mesmerizing work of disturbing power and unease. Read full review
90
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
For many the question remains about how Treadwell's eventual death should be regarded--as a tragedy, as a fool's fate, or as comeuppance for daring to humanize wild predators and habituating them to human presence. Herzog's perspective is, of course, scrupulously nonjudgmental. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Shows and tells an astonishing story, a disturbing and provocative tale of obsession, bravado and self-invention that leaves you open-mouthed for all kinds of reasons. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJim Fusilli
Mr. Herzog's perspective is an invaluable balance to Mr. Treadwell's as the animal advocate approaches what seems like madness.
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
A truly provocative essay. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Herzog conducts his own expedition into knowing the unknowable -- the true task of any filmmaker. Herzog makes it an art. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Actually three movies in one: a wildlife film about how grizzly bears behave in their natural habitat, a character study of an eccentric environmentalist, and a chilling, voyeuristic narrative of how death stalks that man. Read full review
88
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Herzog tries to make sense out of the blond-haired young man, who looked an awful lot like Kinski. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeStaff (Not credited)
Timothy Treadwell was killed, along with his girlfriend, by a rogue bear in October 2003. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
A haunting and fascinating portrait of so much that is worth exploring: the implacability of nature, the hubris of human endeavor and the line between supreme dedication and madness. Read full review
88
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
There's an element of the nature film to Grizzly Man, and those passages are truly stunning, offering an up-close look at these magnificent animals. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldPeter Debruge
Herzog himself is one of the great lunatic directors of our century, a mad genius who repeatedly attempts to challenge nature and the gods in his own films. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Compelling, disturbing. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Herzog is still the only person who could have made Grizzly Man. His admiration for Treadwell has its limits, but he understands, better than most directors, what it means to follow dreams into the belly of the beast. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
Herzog is primarily interested in Treadwell the filmmaker, but you'll likely be fascinated with him as a human being. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJoshua Katzman
This is an engrossing look at obsessive behavior gone terribly awry. Read full review
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
Makes for quite an emotional roller-coaster ride. You don't know whether to celebrate or mock, to laugh or weep. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Herzog wants us to see a deluded nobility in this quest. Treadwell's flawed dreams were, in the end, all too human. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneAllison Benedikt
The movie here is Treadwell's footage--some of it beautiful, much of it difficult to watch. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter Addiego
This is the heart-rending true story of a man with a seemingly benign preoccupation that turned into something close to madness and brought him to a terrible end. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Though some see Treadwell as an idealistic martyr who made the ultimate sacrifice for his passion, others vilify him as an arrogant fool who courted his own end. Read full review
70
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
The results are by turns fascinating, horrifying, and maddening. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
While Grizzly Man is never less than a fascinating portrait of a troubled Peter Pan who couldn't function in human society and tried to remake the animal kingdom into his own private Hanna-Barbera cartoon, it fails to establish Treadwell as much more than a serious headcase, let alone a titanic figure. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
A rapt fascination with transcendent lunacy runs through Herzog's work, both fiction and documentary; while disdaining Treadwell's rhapsodically anthropomorphized vision of nature. Read full review
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