80
Metascore
26 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliIt's ironic that a film with this title should be among the most vital, alive, and challenging cinema experiences of the year.
- 100San Francisco ChronicleEdward GuthmannSan Francisco ChronicleEdward GuthmannActing rarely gets better than this.
- 90Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonAn extremely affecting experience, down to the last agonizing moment.
- 90Film.comJohn HartlFilm.comJohn HartlSean Penn gives the most riveting, selfless performance of his career.
- Quietly courageous drama .
- 90Film.comFilm.comA complex, myriad-faceted work of art.
- Dead Man Walking drops a massive, writhing knot of sorrow in your lap and then doesn't tell you what to do with it. If that doesn't sound like entertainment to you, you're right. It does something far more profound: It finds the tragic universal core of a contentious issue.
- 80NewsweekDavid AnsenNewsweekDavid AnsenNo simple diatribe against capital punishment, it's a strong film, made stronger by two terrific performances.
- 75Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittThe movie is often preachy and self-conscious, especially in long dialogue scenes, where Robbins's inexpert scriptwriting makes people talk at instead of with each other. Yet the picture's solid assets enable it to soar above such problems, both intellectually and emotionally. [29 December 1995, Film, p.13]
- 50Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumHas its awkward and square moments directorially, but it's also uncommonly honest and serious.