71
Metascore
10 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsRogerEbert.comSimon AbramsBest of all: you don't have to wait until a concluding set piece for To to prove his prowess as a storyteller.
- 83The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyThe A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyTo is one of the purest directors working today, and he flourishes within Three’s self-imposed limits, folding and reorienting the space of the hospital using privacy curtains, swinging doors, and a constantly moving camera — in the process producing a rollickingly entertaining movie.
- 80Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayLos Angeles TimesNoel MurrayEven during the gunfight, this always remains a character piece: a thoughtful, imaginative movie about stubbornly authoritarian professionals, protecting their territories.
- 80The New York TimesGlenn KennyThe New York TimesGlenn KennyWhen the tension finally does break, the movie goes a little nuts, in venerable Johnnie To tradition. The elaborate, largely slow-motion multifloor action climax is as audacious as anything he has staged and filmed.
- 75Slant MagazineJake ColeSlant MagazineJake ColeThe film shows how much Johnnie To still experiments with his form, especially as he continues to transition to digital cinema.
- 75IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichJust like To’s characters all have a little something to learn from each other, Three is a master class in how movies can be as unique and infinite as the people who make them.
- 75The Film StageMichael SnydelThe Film StageMichael SnydelAfter an hour of slow burn simmer, Three culminates in a six-minute set piece that’s among the most memorable action scenes of the year.
- 75Washington PostMark JenkinsWashington PostMark JenkinsIn the movie’s first hour, all the blood is medical. Then the director stages a big shootout, mostly in slo-mo, that’s more clunky than epic. Before that misstep, though, Three is singularly entertaining.
- 60Screen DailyJames MarshScreen DailyJames MarshThe veteran Hong Kong director makes his audience wait for the promised fireworks, and Three’s flimsy premise never quite captures the grounded realism of Drug War or Election, or the visual flourish of Exiled or Vengeance.
- 30Village VoicePete Vonder HaarVillage VoicePete Vonder Haar70 odd minutes of medical tragedy and cops matching wits with criminals devolves into incongruously balletic gunplay accentuated with CGI blood effects so terrible Sam Peckinpah is doing cocaine in his grave. It’s a weirdly calamitous tonal shift, erasing the scant goodwill we’d felt to this point and putting Three down for the count once and for all.