58
Metascore
13 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Village VoiceSam WeisbergVillage VoiceSam WeisbergThe tension never lets up.
- 80Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternWall Street JournalJoe MorgensternWhat’s admirable about Pioneer is its succession of interesting environments, both below and above the water’s surface, and the quietly appealing figure at the center of the international intrigue.
- 75Slant MagazineCarson LundSlant MagazineCarson LundIts greatest asset, and another trait it shares with Mann and Fincher's work, is a careful attention toward the particulars of its milieu in a way that doesn't call attention to those period touches.
- 70Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranAs far as conspiracy thrillers go, Pioneer is as paranoid as they come.
- 60Total FilmJamie GrahamTotal FilmJamie GrahamPioneer features underwater sequences so breathless they’ll thrill even James Cameron (director Erik Skjoldbjærg made the original Insomnia) but Petter’s truth-chasing is at times too frantic and melodramatic.
- 60EmpireAngie ErrigoEmpireAngie ErrigoPolitical chicanery and psychological mystery entwine with some stunning underwater sequences but don’t gel entirely satisfactorily.
- 60Time Out LondonTrevor JohnstonTime Out LondonTrevor JohnstonPioneer delivers insidious, shadowy tension, while it’s genuinely surprising to find yourself so engrossed – story glitches notwithstanding – in key issues like compression sickness and divers’ gas supply.
- 50The New York TimesNicolas RapoldThe New York TimesNicolas RapoldMr. Skjoldbjaerg, who also tapped Norwegian history with his bank robbery re-enactment “Nokas,” doesn’t convey a creeping atmosphere of moral rot so much as an irksome glumness.
- 40The TelegraphMike McCahillThe TelegraphMike McCahillThe more tangled the plot becomes, the more hackneyed Skjoldbaerg’s tactics get.
- 40The DissolveMike D'AngeloThe DissolveMike D'AngeloWith no compelling characters in sight, and a director whose formal acumen begins and ends with forbidding locations (in this case, underwater), Pioneer has to lean on its drab story.