The story of a perfect crime...

| Sep 27, 2023

As far as true crime documentaries go, The Mystery of DB Cooper is a decently put together, middle of the road film. It is good for newcomers to the case but doesn’t do much investigation for those already familiar.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Feb 4, 2023

This documentary will offer up new information that you may not have heard before and a lot of information you probably already know but presented in an engaging way.

| Sep 14, 2022

Who exactly are all these posers? That’s what HBO’s The Mystery of DB Cooper documentary tries to sort out—a series of self-inflicted Munchausen syndrome, with mixed results.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 9, 2022

It wasn't a film about the identity of DB Cooper, but about the power of myth, the unreliability of memory and our desperation to believe in something.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 31, 2020

HBO's treatment of the evergreen saga remains fresh, fun, and all-consuming.

| Dec 31, 2020

There is no rancor, judgment or patronizing in the telling, but it keeps its sense of humor without losing its drama or suspense.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 31, 2020

Dower wisely knows that he's not going to solve this case that even the FBI couldn't crack, and instead broadens his perspective into what the Cooper case means to people and why this unsolved mystery has such enduring power.

| Original Score: B | Dec 31, 2020

This terrific Storyville from John Dower picks apart what became a Robin Hood story and hears from retired FBI agents involved the in case, and the friends and family members of a handful of suspects.

| Dec 31, 2020

Dower succumbs to some of the more annoying trappings of such informational documentaries, but overall this is compelling.

| Dec 30, 2020

A wild tale, full of eccentric characters...

| Original Score: B | Dec 16, 2020

I was left with two thoughts: evidence, without any additional motive or context, is not as it says; and all Americans want to be, briefly, acknowledged for their life, preferably on screen.

| Dec 14, 2020

highly entertaining in the way it interweaves all of the possibilities, tantalizing us with the all-too-convincing clues that pinpoint the various suspects as Cooper

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 9, 2020

Puts the known facts and a collection of the best theories through their paces over a well-calibrated 85 minutes.

| Dec 7, 2020

Writer/director John Dower's documentary is simply content to revel in the unknowability of its story. To that end, it's a tantalizing look at a case that stymies conclusions at every turn.

| Dec 3, 2020

[A] fascinating look at the people who still, so many years later, insist on sharing their truth. Maybe the best part of the whole thing is this: Only one of them (if any) can be right, but it's easy to believe them all.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 3, 2020

With so much material, it's hard to steer the narrative... The Mystery of D.B. Cooper skillfully sketches out the details of the crime without fully capturing what makes the case so appealing to obsessives.

| Dec 1, 2020

An interesting, indirect (but unmissable) documentary account of confirmation bias.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 30, 2020

Dower isn't so much concerned with proving that they're all lying but rather that they all might be telling their own personal truth. He argues that the mystery of D.B. Cooper means so much to their psyche, their family history, their own sense of self.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 27, 2020

Tells an engrossing tale of nefarious derring-do and the power of belief, with the hook of lost cash.

| Nov 26, 2020