73
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90The Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberThe Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberWhat is admirable about Ivory Game is that it recognizes the complexity of the issues.
- 80The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawBrings a new urgency to an old subject: the ivory trade, which is threatening the world’s elephants. This threat has not been cancelled or brought under control, as I had assumed. The film persuasively argues that it is all but out of control: so much so that elephants are in danger of being wiped out in the wild in just a matter of years.
- 80CineVueMatthew AndersonCineVueMatthew AndersonThe Ivory Game depicts humankind both at its deplorable worst and at its best. Its burning images will sear through conscience and consciousness but there is faint hope in the lasting hoof-print they leave.
- 75The Film StageJared MobarakThe Film StageJared MobarakWhile the movie provides common sense scenarios, its success lies in putting faces to the issue. It highlights heroes and villains to transform abstract numbers into human beings. That power trumps any lack of cinematic brilliance because this type of documentary seeks exposure and potential hope.
- 70TheWrapRobert AbeleTheWrapRobert AbeleIt’s a wealth of information The Ivory Game vitally offers, and action it means to incite. That may well be enough to get audiences involved.
- 70VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanThere are moments when the movie tugs at your heart, but the subject matter, because it’s so epic, deserves an even more probing and definitive treatment.
- 70Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenLos Angeles TimesSheri LindenThe grim economic realities behind such trafficking are glancingly acknowledged. There’s real impact, though, in the anger and grief of law enforcement officials and conservationists when their tracking leads them to elephant carcasses.
- 70The New York TimesKen JaworowskiThe New York TimesKen JaworowskiWhile more information on the animals and their ecosystems is needed, the stakes described here are immense, as is the sorrow over majestic creatures massacred only so that their tusks can be made into baubles.
- 58The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloUnlike a lot of other advocacy docs—films that seek to raise awareness regarding some serious issue, often concluding with a call to action—Netflix’s The Ivory Game offers something spectacularly visual: elephants.