---
title: "Citizenfour: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/citizenfour/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/citizenfour"
critics_score: 82
critics_reviews: 20
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Citizenfour (2014): what the critics said

Critics' score 82 from 20 reviews: 19 positive, 0 mixed, 1 negative.

Most critics agree that Citizenfour works first as a thriller and only second as journalism. Nearly all the praise settles on the Hong Kong hotel room scenes, where Poitras films Snowden as the leaks begin, and reviewers describe the odd sensation of watching history recorded as it happens. Several credit the restraint of her fly-on-the-wall approach and the tension of the editing. Snowden himself comes across as calm, articulate and more likeable than many expected.

The reservations are few and gather in one place: what happens once the film leaves Hong Kong. Time Out and Radio Times both find the later stretches lose energy. A handful note the partisan viewpoint and narrow scope, though most treat that as a choice rather than a fault. The Hollywood Reporter finds the whole thing oddly cool in temperature. The one real dissent comes from Total Film, which grants that the access is remarkable but says Poitras has no idea how to shape it, surrounding the central scenes with flat footage. Otherwise the spread is narrow.

## Empire — Simon Crook

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 27 October 2014. 

The film is the definitive 21st-century documentary, capturing a global tech conspiracy leaked in real time by its source. Poitras delivers a stark, clear-eyed warning of vanishing freedoms through bold, unblinking filmmaking.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/citizenfour-2-review/)

## Film Comment — Nicolas Rapold

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 1 November 2014. 

The critic finds the film a sophisticated and riveting work of cinema verité that goes beyond advocacy to become an instant classic of paranoid cinema. They single out the high-tension editing of the Hong Kong hotel room interviews and the palpable sense of danger and claustrophobia it creates.

[Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/citizenfour-laura-poitras-edward-snowden/)

## IndieWire

Rating A-. 10 October 2014. Festival review. 

The critic praises its bracing access and mesmerizing look at how Snowden released the information and why it matters, steering toward a broader narrative.

[Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/2014/10/review-edward-snowden-doc-citizenfour-is-a-bracing-look-at-nsa-whistleblowers-impact-27132/)

## Sight and Sound — Nick Bradshaw

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 31 October 2014. 

The critic praises Poitras's ground-zero record of Snowden's revelations for finding intensity in intimacy, with the Hong Kong hotel room sequences playing like a reality spy thriller that captures history in the making.

[Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-citizenfour)

## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 11 October 2014. 

The film is a triumph of journalism that shows Snowden vindicated. It focuses on the tense Hong Kong hotel meetings where the disclosures unfold through Poitras's eyes.

[Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/oct/11/citizenfour-review-snowden-vindicated-poitras-nsa-journalism)

## The New York Times — A.O. Scott

Rating Critic’s Pick. 24 October 2014. 

The critic sees the film as a tense, frightening thriller that focuses on Snowden's bravery and idealism in exposing surveillance. It notes the partial, partisan perspective but praises its cinematic power over balanced journalism.

[Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/movies/citizenfour-a-documentary-about-edward-j-snowden.html)

## Variety — Ronnie Scheib

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 11 October 2014. Festival review. 

The documentary extraordinarily records Snowden's revelations in real time in a Hong Kong hotel, showing information as a weapon that cuts both ways. It praises Poitras's portrayal of Snowden as calm and sincere amid justified paranoia.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/2014/film/reviews/film-review-citizenfour-1201327600/)

## Financial Times — Nigel Andrews

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 16 October 2014. 

It is a gripping true-life spy thriller and edge-of-seat viewing. The film centers on the likeable, self-effacing Snowden in the Hong Kong days as leaks turn into a flood.

[Read the review](https://www.ft.com/content/fbfa54de-5522-11e4-b616-00144feab7de)

## Vulture

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 24 October 2014. 

The critic calls it an avant-garde paranoid conspiracy thriller that puts viewers right in the room as history is made with Snowden, holding attention despite some long hotel scenes.

[Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/2014/10/movie-review-citizenfour-edward-snowden.html)

## Little White Lies — David Jenkins

Rating 4/4/4. 30 October 2014. 

Poitras delivers a claustrophobic real-life spy thriller profiling Snowden as a hyper-articulate whistleblower sacrificing everything to expose surveillance, with the film's existence itself affirming the power of resistance.

[Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/citizenfour)

## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 23 October 2014. 

The film is an advocacy documentary with compelling you-are-there footage of Snowden and Greenwald in Hong Kong, warning of the end of privacy. It notes the limited scope and insider bias but calls it a significant service in exposing NSA actions.

[Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-citizenfour-review-20141024-column.html)

## Radio Times — Victoria Luxford

Rating 4/5. 31 October 2014. 

The documentary thrillingly captures Snowden unveiling flagrant abuses of power in a tense, history-making setting, offering a shocking snapshot of the threat posed by those in authority despite some loss of urgency later on.

[Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-ewy959/citizenfour/)

## Screen Daily

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 12 October 2014. 

Poitras opts for poignancy over heavy-handedness in chronicling the collaboration with Snowden and Greenwald, delivering an engaging thriller setup with aesthetic merit and accessible context on surveillance.

[Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/citizenfour/5078556.article)

## Slant Magazine

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 13 October 2014. 

The critic notes how Poitras provides privileged insight into Snowden while keeping focus on government spying, delivering clarity like a gifted trial lawyer on an urgent topic.

[Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/citizenfour/)

## Time Out — Dave Calhoun

Rating 4/5. 15 October 2014. 

The film's quiet, matter-of-fact sobriety is as chilling as Snowden's revelations of mass spying, delivering an intimate human portrait of the whistleblower at his moment of no return, though it loses energy after Hong Kong.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/citizenfour)

## The Hollywood Reporter — Todd McCarthy

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 10 October 2014. Festival review. 

The critic finds it a revelatory and fascinating documentary profiling Snowden at the moment of his leaks, though oddly lacking in tension with a very cool temperature.

[Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/citizenfour-new-york-review-740117/)

## Total Film — Emma Morgan

Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 17 November 2014. 

The doc offers incredible as-it-happens access but lacks any idea how to present the material, bookending the central scenes with flat footage. Snowden emerges as surprisingly sympathetic, yet the infodump approach goes disappointingly unexploited.

[Read the review](https://www.gamesradar.com/citizenfour-review/)

## The Wrap

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 23 October 2014. 

The critic calls it one of the year's most unsettling thrillers, emphasizing the suspense in the secrecy surrounding the story and the terrifying ramifications of the NSA spying revelations. Poitras' restrained, fly-on-the-wall style is singled out for allowing the material and subjects to speak directly.

[Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/citizenfour-review-edward-snowden-glenn-greenwald-nsa-spying/)

## Deadline — Jeremy Gerard

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 21 October 2014. 

The review describes the film as a chilling documentary capturing Laura Poitras' process of documenting Edward Snowden's NSA leaks and his meetings with journalists. It highlights the ongoing global impact of the revelations and Snowden's flight to Russia.

[Read the review](https://deadline.com/2014/10/citizenfour-review-edward-snowden-laura-poitras-857412/)

## Eye for Film — Owen Van Spall

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 15 October 2014. 

Poitras crafts an illuminating and compelling documentary using exclusive footage from Snowden's Hong Kong hotel room meetings. The film stands as the first essential post-Snowden work, frightening yet unmissable for its tangible sense of intangible invasion.

[Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/citizenfour-2014-film-review-by-owen-van-spall)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/citizenfour.md