Watch it a hundred times and the dread, bad-dream opening sequence of Nazi troops swarming through the Arc de Triomphe might still leave you reeling...

| Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 1, 2020

"Jean-Pierre Melville cherishes paradox and free thinking," and both elements are on beautiful display in his masterpiece.

| Jan 12, 2011

As close to a masterpiece as any film you're likely to see this year.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Aug 17, 2007

A film to be seen and savored for its moral magnitude.

| Apr 25, 2007

From the first sight of German soldiers goose-stepping past the Arc de Triomphe to a postscript that spells out the fate of characters whose moral confusion is all too real, Army of Shadows is a movie of its time -- and ours.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 18, 2007

Unlike the romantic images of freedom fighters perpetuated by the popular media, Melville's movie is stripped of self-congratulatory hero worship and other puffery.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Nov 18, 2006

This memorable movie movingly pays tribute to those who chose not to remain silent, to those ordinary men and women who chose to do extraordinary things... from the shadows.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Sep 21, 2006

Place it squarely in the category of overlooked gems.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Sep 15, 2006

A painstaking study in courage and conviction under agonizing pressure.

| Original Score: A- | Jul 13, 2006

Deals with the French resistance during World War II, but it's nothing like any other French resistance film ever made.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 23, 2006

The results bear witness to a time when sacrifice was bleached of everything but itself.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 16, 2006

What's so devastating about Army of Shadows is how physically we respond to the terrible decisions faced by the resistance fighters.

| May 30, 2006

Rarely has a film shown so truly that place in the heart where hope lives with fatalism.

| Original Score: 4/4 | May 26, 2006

It becomes overwhelming as we watch -- a classic of life in the underground, of terror, love, friendship, betrayal, and of death hovering over all.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | May 25, 2006

... the most meaningful atmosphere of exquisite suspense you're likely to see at the movies this year. Or most years.

| Original Score: A | May 23, 2006

Masterfully made, with no detail unattended.

| Original Score: 4/4 | May 12, 2006

It's a strange enough film, yet weirdly great. No movie has quite gotten the clammy weight of fear, the sense of hopelessness that would necessarily haunt underground workers.

| May 11, 2006

[Those] with a weakness for dry heroism, dark-toned humor, and storytelling of pantherish pace and grace -- in short, lovers of cinema -- should reach for their fedoras, turn up the collars of their coats, and sneak to this picture through a mist of rain.

Full Review | May 1, 2006

... taut tale of intrigue and daring ...

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 28, 2006

Almost 40 years after it was made, Army of Shadows has more to tell us about the internal toll of war and taking a stand than anything Hollywood has produced.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Apr 28, 2006