Its centre holds, largely because of Schoenaerts's capacity to elicit our sympathy despite everything.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 1, 2013

It's compelling, and Schoenaerts is a treat as this taciturn knot of angst and muscle tone, but Michaël R Roskam's film is short on humanity and dash.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 1, 2013

This thriller about a steroid-boosting farmer lost in the moral maze of Belgium's mafia underworld is a stylish, meaty treat.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 31, 2013

Bullhead becomes dark, minatory and coruscating in ways not light-aeons distant from Büchner or Scorsese.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 31, 2013

There's not quite enough in here to justify a second sweep.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 31, 2013

Bullhead more than deserves its run at the big screen. So does its star.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 27, 2013

This dark, vicious film gets a bit muddled at times but the strength of its lead performance and a strong visual palette make it a stark but worthwhile trip.

| Original Score: 3.5/5.0 | Mar 2, 2012

It's one of those films you have to reconstruct in your mind.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 1, 2012

Some of the dialogue is overloaded, but the formidable cinematography, by Nicolas Karakatsanis, envelops us in an ever-darkening world.

Full Review | Feb 27, 2012

Many terms applied to action movies - muscular, animalistic, testosterone-fueled - are literally true of Bullhead.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 24, 2012

Even though the crime story winds up overwhelming the proceedings, it's the characters that make Bullhead so powerful and so unique.

| Feb 23, 2012

[It] has enough strands of story for an epic tale. But Roskam appears more interested in trying to combine genres that don't easily cohere.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 23, 2012

Bullhead proves that you can make an underworld movie pumped up with pretension.

| Original Score: C- | Feb 22, 2012

Relentless from beginning to end, the dialogue fully loaded with intricate details and the film in general oozing with high stakes and suspense.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Feb 19, 2012

I hope we'll be getting another chance to watch Matthias Schoenaerts' work in the near future -- as huge as he is in this role, I suspect there's plenty more to see.

| Feb 17, 2012

Part of the response comes from the excitement of discovery: an unknown writer-director making his feature debut, and creating a gritty crime story (with strong emotional currents) set against an unlikely backdrop.

Full Review | Feb 17, 2012

Guided with a sure hand by writer-director Roskam, Bullhead is a tragic character study in the guise of a seedy crime drama.

| Feb 17, 2012

A GoodFellas set among the hormone mafia may not sound like a great movie, but Roskam subtly steers it toward intense and agonizing character study, with the bovine-supplement angle raising the stakes and dredging up the past.

| Feb 16, 2012

Starts out like a thriller and turns into a disturbing tragedy in an unlikely and unexpected key.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 16, 2012

Part character study, part crime thriller, "Bullhead" is the impressive but deeply flawed first feature written and directed by Michael R. Roskam.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 16, 2012