80
Metascore
10 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubSan Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubThe fly-on-the-wall style is a slow build that leads to an immersive experience, and then an ultimate payoff as the change-minded department detours into another scandal. The Force is like watching a drug addict take a few meaningful steps toward recovery, only to relapse again.
- 90Screen DailyTim GriersonScreen DailyTim GriersonIn the gripping, inspiring — and, ultimately, dispiriting — documentary The Force, a troubled police force tries to redeem itself, only to learn how nearly impossible the task may be.
- 90Village VoiceBilge EbiriVillage VoiceBilge EbiriThe Force is hypnotic and eye-opening. Nicks has a style that is both experiential and ethereal: From its ground-level immersion in the minutiae of police work to its sweeping helicopter shots of the city at night, The Force has the texture of a Michael Mann film combined with the clarity of a Frederick Wiseman documentary.
- 88RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiRogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiThis is a strong film that tackles a charged subject in a fair and even-handed manner. The Force will give viewers of all social and political persuasions much to think about afterwards.
- 83The Film StageTony HindsThe Film StageTony HindsThe Force examines one of the most talked about issues in America from an ideal vantage point, revealing disheartening complexities with an intriguing momentum.
- 80The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisThe movie may offer an incriminatory catalog of organizational failure, but it also repeatedly shows people trying to make the system work.
- 80Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranThe result, unusual in a documentary involving the police and the public, is a film that does not advocate for anything but the truth, one that aims to show what happens on both sides of an issue rather than coming down in favor of one or the other.
- 70VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanThe strength, and fascination, of The Force is that the movie isn’t on anyone’s side. It’s cognizant of the brutality and violence that police officers, in our era, have been caught on phone cameras committing. At the same time, it’s not out to demonize the police — it’s out to capture the pressures they’re under, and to show us what their job looks like from the inside.
- 67The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloTo his credit, director Peter Nicks (The Waiting Room) accepts the dispiriting trajectory that this initially hopeful film ultimately takes—there’s no dissembling here. Trouble is, most of the ugly stuff happens off-camera, necessitating a secondhand second half that amounts to an embarrassed “Oops.”
- 50Slant MagazineKeith WatsonSlant MagazineKeith WatsonThough initially compelling, Peter Nick's documentary is fundamentally without a clear perspective on its subject.