Particle Fever
Abramorama | Release Date: March 5, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
87
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyMar 6, 2014
Their excitement is infectious and the entire endeavour both mind-bending and tremendously human: Near the end, Peter Higgs, the recent Nobel Prize-winner and one of the scientists who first predicted the particle back in 1964, is seen in Switzerland watching the data results come in, while a tear trickles down his cheek. Read full review
100
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMar 4, 2014
Particle Fever is a fascinating movie about science, and an exciting, revealing and sometimes poignant movie about scientists. Read full review
100
Time OutJoshua RothkopfMar 4, 2014
Particle Fever is that rare, exhilarating science doc that’s neither dumbed down nor drabbed up. Read full review
100
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlMar 4, 2014
Levinson follows the ups and downs of bringing that beast of a collider online, but the movie's deepest thrill lies in what these men and women will theorize next, and how they will test it. Read full review
100
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyMar 4, 2014
Particle Fever succeeds on every level, but none more important than in making the normally intimidating and arcane world of genius-level physics at least conceptually comprehensible and even friendly to the lay viewer. Read full review
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMar 7, 2014
Particle Fever doesn’t prompt us to say: “Gee, these superbrains are just like us, except for the brains.” The film allows for our awe. It also demonstrates that science is the most human of activities, with all that that implies. Read full review
85
NPRTrey GrahamMar 8, 2014
It's jaw-droppingly cool stuff, explained with admirable clarity by an affable physicist tour-guide, David E. Kaplan, and wedded to the tale of a massive technological undertaking like nothing in history. ("The biggest machine ever built by human beings," as one scientist puts it.) And it's flat-out thrilling. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubJosh ModellMar 5, 2014
Particle Fever, to its great credit, is very rarely dry. There’s a palpable excitement throughout, even as the work moves slowly, and the physicists themselves are charming and straightforward enough (“We won’t know how, but it’s gonna change everything”) to make it a compelling, if sometimes difficult to follow, story. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghMar 20, 2014
Particle Fever does an excellent job of laying out what's at stake as it documents the creation and fine-tuning of the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranMar 6, 2014
There's a palpable excitement around the search for knowledge, and this film captures that beautifully. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJordan HoffmanMar 6, 2014
The final “beams” are the most exciting depictions of science on film since “Apollo 13.” Read full review
80
The TelegraphDavid GrittenMar 4, 2014
Particle Fever offers enough broad explanation to keep lay persons up to speed. Where it excels is in depicting the various personalities involved. Read full review
80
VarietyRonnie ScheibMar 4, 2014
For all their concentration on the human factor, the filmmakers by no means shortchange the aesthetic dimensions of LHC. Read full review
80
The DissolveScott TobiasMar 4, 2014
As much as any documentary since Errol Morris’ A Brief History Of Time, Particle Fever excels at expressing advanced scientific theory through graphics that are simple, attractive, and utterly approachable. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMar 20, 2014
It plays out with all the suspense of a thriller. Assisted by acclaimed editor Walter Murch, Levinson wisely shapes the story not around the hardware, which was plagued by malfunctions and other delays, but around the people tasked with making the LHC run. Read full review
75
Boston GlobePeter KeoughMar 20, 2014
A key point, though, is that all the scientists profiled have staked their careers on this one discovery. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoMar 13, 2014
A gripping documentary about the most exacting and expensive scientific experiment ever conducted, and one that may be among the most significant. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineWes GreeneMar 5, 2014
The film may not put itself above the uninitiated, but director Mark Levinson oftentimes appears almost too eager to present his material with affectation. Read full review
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