Confrontations allow the technical aspects of Gavras' direction to shine, with a realistic but dynamic approach that creates an absorbing atmosphere of fire and debris in a labyrinthine setting. [Full review in Spanish]

| Jul 11, 2024

Actors Sami Slimane and Dali Benssalah are phenomenal in their roles as embattled brothers immersed in grief, as the concise plot also helps heighten the anxiety of the film and bring the French political milieu to the fore.

| Jun 11, 2024

Athena is a dark, gritty, utterly breathtaking piece of filmmaking. It is gorgeously expansive and daring, and its cinematography a thing of wonder.

| Original Score: B+ | Apr 24, 2024

Everything starts in the complexity of our relationships. Gavras' immense cinematographic feat becomes one of those movies one dreams to make some day. A tale of brothers, a tragedy forever repeated in human history. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 9/10 | Aug 1, 2023

You can fault the script as much as you want, but there’s no denying the visceral impact as the camera shuttles in long takes between the cops and the rioters who have had enough of the police killing their own...

| Mar 13, 2023

Athena is a gut punch of a film that will have you gasping for air and choking back sobs in equal measure.

| Jan 25, 2023

This is a one-of-a-kind, jaw-dropping work of art that absolutely must be seen on the big screen.

| Original Score: 9.5/10 | Dec 30, 2022

...puts exciting technique in the service of social awareness.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 16, 2022

With long takes, extreme close-ups, and handheld camera-work, we're dropped into this fight to witness the intensity and knee-jerk reactionary impulses that risk making things worse. Our collective anger [opening] us up to manipulation in anarchy’s name.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Dec 16, 2022

This is clearly explosive, a sensory attack crusted with some searing political commentary. I think it functions best as an assault on the senses, but it definitely made me think when it was over. That opening scene is as brilliant as advertised.

| Dec 6, 2022

Great as a visual spectacle.

| Original Score: B- | Dec 5, 2022

"Despite its melancholy, Athena is a true feat of filmmaking. It is awesome in the true sense of the word."

| Nov 19, 2022

An astounding technical achievement... Romain Gavras sets a French council estate, and the cinema, ablaze with the incendiary Athena.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 13, 2022

It’s one of the best things you’ll see this year.

| Oct 27, 2022

It’s been quite a while since I watched a movie in a constant fugue state of tension and admiration.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 7, 2022

It may rely too heavily on its amazing visual craftsmanship, but the themes (though only scratched upon) are there. And watching society crumble and violence beget violence on screen is affecting.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 6, 2022

Athena is so tense as to be nearly exhausting, but it’s a good kind of exhaustion, the exhaustion that comes from exhilaration.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 30, 2022

The movie doesn’t have enough to say to start a real argument.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 29, 2022

Director Romain Gavras is doing more than just putting an ambitious and wildly energetic film on his resume; he’s delivering something sensational, often quite grim, and of the moment.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Sep 29, 2022

Athena is an engrossing and unflinching polemic, an “action-tragedy” that’s both a feast for the eyes and a dagger to the heart.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 29, 2022