Bratton's film makes the argument that, amidst the brutality of war (and in training for it), strength can also be found in and built upon vulnerability and empathy.

| Jul 12, 2024

The Inspection remains a must-see. With career-defining performances from Pope, Castillo, and Woodbine, the film is one of the most important of the year, born out of someone's personal trauma for the world to see.

| Original Score: A- | Mar 6, 2024

As the film progresses, the audience is begging for The Inspection to challenge them on something. Anything. The film doesn’t need to be pro- or anti-military to be successful, but it does need to know what it wants to say.

| Feb 25, 2024

From overcoming the bouts of homonegativity to demanding the respect of both family and peers, French shows us that sometimes you can’t wait for the world to give you the respect you deserve.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Aug 8, 2023

This intimate look into the US military under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is a promising beginning for Bratton’s career in narrative features.

| Jul 25, 2023

Jeremy Pope Deserves every single role in Hollywood after this incredible performance!

| Jul 25, 2023

While its protagonist feels multilayered and authentic, the characters around him don’t always do, and this, combined with a resolution that doesn’t leave much room for growth, makes the film feel a little underwhelming.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 23, 2023

Bratton stares head-on at his protagonist's distressing ordeal... his feature is all the better because it refuses to make obvious and unchallenging choices, even when it's at its most arduous and depicting one of cinema's most well-documented routines.

| Jul 22, 2023

The Inspection is confidently told, economical and completely free of bullshit.

| Jun 30, 2023

The Inspection succeeds in the end because this powerful real-life character study is firmly rooted in reality.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 8, 2023

The latest demonstration of how good intentions alone aren’t enough to make a good film.

| Original Score: 2/5 | May 5, 2023

It’s Ellis’s story and [Jeremy Pope] keeps you on his side all the way with a performance so direct, intuitive -- and restrained -- that you feel as if he’s letting you in on his every thought.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 4, 2023

The Inspection is perhaps not as strong as the parts that make it. It has a lot of really great individual elements but doesn’t quite have the juice to make for an entirely satisfying end product.

| May 3, 2023

To use a pun, The Inspection is something that a film this deeply conflicted and messy would struggle to pass

| Original Score: 9/20 | May 1, 2023

Arresting acting is captured adeptly by a fledgling auteur in his accomplished debut. It finds equilibrium between the military’s attractions and horrors, compiling a subtle narrative anchored by a rounded and painfully human protagonist.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 25, 2023

One of 2022's 20 best films.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 13, 2023

At times the script is formulaic — just another tale of a soldier persevering — but in general Bratton’s honesty adds something fresh.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 2, 2023

Jeremy Pope’s fearlessly combative, full-blooded performance as French warrants him being propelled into the higher ranks of Hollywood, with the nuances of his ever-evolving character conveyed with such honesty.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 25, 2023

The Inspection is an outstanding film that tackles some big themes and largely does this well.

| Feb 23, 2023

Fiercely candid, in its condemnation of the brutality that is enmeshed in the training programme, and in its celebration of the bonds and brotherhood that grow between fellow cadets.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 19, 2023