X
In Theaters Now
  • 2024
  • R
  • Netflix
  • 1 h 29 m
  • 2024
  • R
  • Netflix
  • 1 h 29 m

Summary Driven to maintain social order, policing in the United States has exploded in scope and scale over hundreds of years. Now, American policing embodies one word: power. A cogent essay film inviting conscious engagement and reflection on a system of control that has gone largely unquestioned, Power is a sweeping chronicle of the history an...

Directed By: Yance Ford

Written By: Yance Ford, Ian Olds

In Theaters Now
  • 2024
  • R
  • Netflix
  • 1 h 29 m
  • 2024
  • R
  • Netflix
  • 1 h 29 m

Power

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 12 Critic Reviews
72
User Score Mixed or Average Based on 6 User Ratings
4.8
My Score
Hover and click to give a rating Saved

Where to Watch

View Showtimes

Summary Driven to maintain social order, policing in the United States has exploded in scope and scale over hundreds of years. Now, American policing embodies one word: power. A cogent essay film inviting conscious engagement and reflection on a system of control that has gone largely unquestioned, Power is a sweeping chronicle of the history an...

Directed By: Yance Ford

Written By: Yance Ford, Ian Olds

Where to Watch

View Showtimes

Top Cast

View All
View All Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 12 Critic Reviews
72
75% Positive
9 Reviews
25% Mixed
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 12 Critic Reviews
72
75% Positive
9 Reviews
25% Mixed
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
98
Apr 25, 2024
The film is utterly singular to American design—as is the policing system in question—and a masterclass in effective documentary work that exists solely to deliver an impalpable truth.
By Lex Briscuso FULL REVIEW
83
Apr 25, 2024
This film is blunt and direct to degrees that may disengage some viewers.
By Dan Mecca FULL REVIEW
75
May 10, 2024
The goal of Power is to call police brutality into question, not put it on trial. It feels like a primer, a crash course for those who didn’t know and more food for thought for those who do know of its dangers and its harrowing legacy in this country.
By Monica Castillo FULL REVIEW
75
Apr 25, 2024
Power achieves a profoundly unsettling sweep by prioritizing breadth over depth, and Ford’s doc is able to cover a ton of ground as it hopscotches between chapter titles like “PROPERTY” and “STATUS QUO” in order to argue that policing has always served as an instrument to maintain class order.
By David Ehrlich FULL REVIEW
70
May 10, 2024
The point isn’t the data, but the spider-web nature of the argument; seemingly disparate things (labor strikes, slave patrols, the removal of Indigenous Americans from their land) are drawn together in “Power,” which becomes an act of pattern recognition. It is not easy viewing, but it’s a strong introduction to a topic that seems freshly relevant every day.
By Alissa Wilkinson FULL REVIEW
60
Apr 25, 2024
Anyone watching the film is likely to learn something, though whether its lessons will stick, or claw their way beneath one’s skin, is less likely.
By Siddhant Adlakha FULL REVIEW
58
Apr 25, 2024
The film, then, is a useful primer for historicizing and contextualizing the relationship between methods of social control and the rise of policing, both as an unchecked institution and a term associated with the history of the United States. One just wishes the film would slow down every once in a while.
By Christian Gallichio FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Mixed or Average Based on 6 User Ratings
4.8
33% Positive
2 Ratings
33% Mixed
2 Ratings
33% Negative
2 Ratings

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Mixed or Average Based on 6 User Ratings
4.8
33% Positive
2 Ratings
33% Mixed
2 Ratings
33% Negative
2 Ratings

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

Details

 View All
Production Company Corvidae Media, Multitude Films, Story Syndicate
Release Date May 10, 2024
Duration 1 h 29 m
Rating R
Genres
Website https://www.multitudefilms.com/power
View All Details

Awards

Cleveland International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
CPH:DOX
• 1 Nomination

Related Movies

Hoop Dreams

98
Universal Acclaim

Man with a Movie Camera

96
Universal Acclaim

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

96
Universal Acclaim

I Am Not Your Negro

95
Universal Acclaim

Woodstock

95
Universal Acclaim

Collective

95
Universal Acclaim

Amazing Grace

94
Universal Acclaim

Stop Making Sense

94
Universal Acclaim

We Were Here

94
Universal Acclaim

Faces Places

94
Universal Acclaim

David Byrne’s American Utopia

93
Universal Acclaim

Shoah: Four Sisters

93
Universal Acclaim

Our Body

93
Universal Acclaim

Sherpa

93
Universal Acclaim

The Decline of Western Civilization

93
Universal Acclaim

Brother's Keeper

93
Universal Acclaim

Crumb

93
Universal Acclaim

One More Time with Feeling

92
Universal Acclaim

Sugarcane

92
Universal Acclaim

The Act of Killing

92
Universal Acclaim

De Humani Corporis Fabrica

92
Universal Acclaim

Menus Plaisirs - Les Troisgros

92
Universal Acclaim

Related News

Every George Miller Movie, Ranked

Every George Miller Movie, Ranked

Nick Hyman

We rank every movie directed by George Miller—including his latest Mad Max spinoff, Furiosa—from worst to best according to professional film critics.

  • movie
DVD/Blu-ray Releases: New & Upcoming

DVD/Blu-ray Releases: New & Upcoming

Jason Dietz

Find a list of new movie and TV releases on DVD and Blu-ray (updated weekly) as well as a calendar of upcoming releases on home video.

  • movie
2024 Movie Release Calendar

2024 Movie Release Calendar

Jason Dietz

Find a schedule of release dates for every movie coming to theaters, VOD, and streaming throughout 2024 and beyond, updated daily.

  • movie
Every Planet of the Apes Movie, Ranked

Every Planet of the Apes Movie, Ranked

Nick Hyman

With this week's arrival of the 10th film in the 55-year-old franchise, we rank every one of the Planet of the Apes films from worst to best by Metascore.

  • movie
The 20 Best Movies Based on TV Shows

The 20 Best Movies Based on TV Shows

Jason Dietz

With the arrival of The Fall Guy in theaters, we look back at the best TV-to-movie adaptations in film history.

  • movie