Dark BlueMovie Reviews

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So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 57 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 91
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    Goes where all too few films dare to venture these days -- into the heart of moral darkness. Read full review

  • 80
    Washington Post | Michael O'Sullivan

    Shelton's harrowing and compulsively watchable morality play. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    While Dark Blue may not be easy to watch, it's exceptionally well made. Read full review

  • 75
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    A film of wounding power. It stays with you. Read full review

  • 75
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    Not a great movie, but it has moments that go off the meter and find visceral impact. The characters driving through the riot-torn streets of Los Angeles provide some of them, and the savage, self-hating irony of Russell's late dialogue provides the rest. Read full review

  • 70
    Variety | David Rooney

    Refreshingly devoid of flashiness or artificially pumped-up action, this consistently gripping, well-constructed police thriller… showcases a tightly controlled performance from Kurt Russell. Read full review

  • 63
    USA Today | Mike Clark

    There's at least one plot element too many here; let your own taste determine which one. Yet until it dissolves into conventional melodrama during a climactic fracas, this fast-paced story is never less than watchable. Read full review

  • 60
    Washington Post | Stephen Hunter

    The movie ends not with a bang but a wimp. Read full review

  • 60
    The New York Times | Dana Stevens

    Unfortunately, the rest of the movie does not live up to Mr. Russell's performance. Read full review

  • 60
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    Sensitively directed by Ron Shelton and helped by what just might be the best performance of Kurt Russell's career, Dark Blue is as interesting and successful as it can be within its limits, but those limits make this a more generic film than its makers intended. Read full review


Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Violent police detective teaches his partner.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this movie includes extreme peril and brutal violence. Innocent people are casually murdered. Characters abuse liquor, smoke, and use drugs. There is extremely strong language, including racist epithets. There are sexual references and situations, including adultery and a sexual relationship between people who intentionally know nothing about one another. A theme of the movie is the parallel between the corruption of the police force and the corruption of the surrounding society, and that is reflected in behavior that is greedy, disloyal, bigoted, and cruel.
  • Families can talk about how even people who abandon core values have their own value systems. Where do we see TK's limits? What makes him hit bottom and decide to change?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Not an issue
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: Very intense peril and violence.
  • sex false3 Sex: Sexual references and situations, not graphic.
  • language false5 Language: Extremely strong language.
  • consumerism false3 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false5 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Characters smoke and abuse liquor and drugs.

Dark Blue Movie Ratings + Reviews

Fans say

So-so 76 fan reviews

Critics say

So-so See all critic reviews

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