Gibney's documentary outlines that bad things are happening around Scientology. But since the dawn of humankind, people have done horrible things in the name of all religions.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 21, 2022

It's at turns shocking, mystifying, and curious - but predominantly horrifying.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Dec 4, 2020

Going Clear offers gossipy elements... but its power is in the accumulated evidence of so many voices.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 5, 2019

A compelling documentary which doesn't need to work too hard to out the sheer absurdity and 'Emperor's New Clothes' air that hangs over the whole Scientology movement.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 11, 2018

The picture it manages to assemble packs such a punch that it gives new meaning to "going clear." Jaw-dropping, indeed.

| Aug 2, 2017

Gibney makes another attempt to hole and sink [Scientology]. Hooray for him.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 2, 2017

Amongst a field of analysis which examines Scientology as a cabal of rich wackos gone wild on the taxpayer's dime, Going Clear thrives.

| Original Score: Recommended | Mar 27, 2017

It's a grand history lesson, and an impressively vigorous op-ed; but is it cinema? Reader, I do not wish to say that it is.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jul 10, 2016

Gibney boils it down with skill, his cutting, construction, graphics, and score smoothly and seductively encapsulating Scientology's appeal.

| May 30, 2016

An indispensable general history of the enduringly controversial church.

| Apr 25, 2016

...a fair-minded expose that is decades overdue.

| Apr 15, 2016

For those who know almost nothing about the sinister side of Scientology-presuming there is any other side than the sinister side-Going Clear will be a terrific revelation.

| Apr 6, 2016

The film is a harrowing one, yet incomplete and one-sided, as is the nature of any film in which a secretive organization seeks to control the narrative.

| Original Score: B | Feb 23, 2016

...a fair-minded expose that is decades overdue.

| Feb 19, 2016

Most viewers will likely have personal bug-bears about wishing more time was spent on specific moments, but this is a broad and effective piece of work that will make your eyes pop and your stomach churn.

| Original Score: B+ | Jan 20, 2016

Prolific documentarian Alex Gibney wrote, directed, produced and narrated the sometimes astonishing HBO production, Going Clear.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 1, 2016

This is a shocking, well documented expose of scientology, it's teachings and practices, especially its history of retaliation against whistleblowers.

| Original Score: A | Dec 23, 2015

The film grips utterly for its two hours and sets forth nothing less than a polemic on the dangers of religious extremism.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 21, 2015

Director Alex Gibney methodically pieces together extensive interviews with those who were once senior members of the church to get to the bottom of the group's modus operandi.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 14, 2015

The creep factor here is the old, musty variety that comes from old furniture and plastic flowers, funeral homes and yellow-toothed youth pastors, and it all stems directly from L. Ron Hubbard's ghostly presence in the film through archival material.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 20, 2015