64
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThe Chaser is an expert serial-killer film from South Korea and a poster child for what a well-made thriller looked like in the classic days.
- 88Slant MagazineJoseph Jon LanthierSlant MagazineJoseph Jon LanthierThe opaque ethics of The Chaser elide the reductive nature of binary pairs, focusing instead on the far more piquant complexity of human behavior.
- 80Time OutTime OutNa keeps pulling the rug out from under us, and his brawny genre exercise doubles nicely as a scream of social anguish, since most of the twisted screwups occur at the hands of bumbling or corrupt cops.
- 75Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsChicago TribuneMichael PhillipsThe film is distinguished by the grubby velocity of his foot chases, and the effectiveness of its craft.
- 70VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangPulse-pounding third act expertly pushes the audience’s buttons, to excruciatingly ironic and ultimately devastating effect. Pic does turn overwrought in the final stretch and would have been wise to end on an earlier note, though action fans won’t mind.
- The tight time-frame gives the excellent cast a chance to play with intensity, making even old genre hands hold their breath and feel their minds sufficiently shaken up.
- 60EmpireNick de SemlyenEmpireNick de SemlyenSome of the tension drains from a slow middle act, but it remains a gripping tale of sleuth-work and moral awakening.
- 40Village VoiceNick SchagerVillage VoiceNick SchagerA late-act tragedy drenched in bloodlust slow-mo epitomizes the film's poseur bleakness, with its treatise on individual and institutional amorality sabotaged by broad-stroke characterizations and a knotty narrative too reliant on twin modern-day horror tropes: preposterous decision-making and lousy cell phone service.
- 40The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawIt's atmospheric but derivative, and I didn't find the denouement's Christian imagery convincing.