48
Metascore
17 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75New York Daily NewsJack MathewsNew York Daily NewsJack MathewsThough Civic Duty seems to be a study in paranoid psychosis, it has just enough ambiguity to make you wonder if it isn't something else. You'll still be wondering when it's all over.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckThe Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckWhile the film doesn't fully succeed in its striving for a Hitchcock-style ambiguity in its storytelling, it is consistently engrossing in its exploration of the fine line between civic duty and vigilantism.
- 60VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangUnfolding largely within the confines of a single apartment complex, the well-structured scenario is arresting but ill-served by an overly fussy visual treatment from helmer Jeff Renfroe, while Peter Krause's increasingly psychotic performance as an amateur snoop frequently threatens to cross the line between forceful and off-putting.
- 60Village VoiceVillage VoiceExpected ironies about homeland security, racial profiling, and fears of the Other land like a rain of anvils, and director Renfroe matches Krause's worked-up performance with a jiggly, flashy approximation of off-brand Tony Scott.
- 60Los Angeles TimesCarina ChocanoLos Angeles TimesCarina ChocanoBy the time the movie introduces an element of ambivalence in the story, lecture hall ennui has long ago set in, and no amount of jittery horror movie conventions can change it. With nowhere for any of the characters to go, literally, the story becomes a tendentious exercise in belaboring a point.
- 58Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean AxmakerSeattle Post-IntelligencerSean AxmakerUltimately less psychological thriller than polemic about the effects of living in an atmosphere of paranoia fed by daily threat-level assessments and round-the-clock TV news-channel coverage of fear-mongering speeches.
- 50The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasShooting in digital video, director Jeff Renfroe needlessly amps up the proceedings with jittery camerawork, jump cuts, and other technical hiccups meant to disorient the audience.
- 50Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonThe film is all cliched atmospherics and no real insight.
- 50Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesChicago ReaderJ.R. JonesIt's a subject that guarantees a certain amount of liberal tongue clucking, though director Jeff Renfroe wisely concentrates on suspense instead of sermons.
- 38Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsChicago TribuneMichael PhillipsA clammy little number that might've been funded by the Department of Homeland Security.