--- title: "Crash: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/crash/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/crash" critics_score: 54 critics_reviews: 12 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." --- # Crash (1996): what the critics said Critics' score 54 from 12 reviews: 6 positive, 1 mixed, 5 negative. The reviews split almost down the middle, and the split runs along a date line. Most critics, whatever their verdict, agree that Cronenberg is in complete control: the film is precise, deliberate and unmistakably his, and it stays close to Ballard’s novel. Praise clusters on the performances, James Spader’s blank, chrome-finished protagonist above all, with Elias Koteas and Holly Hunter also singled out, and on Howard Shore’s metallic score. The reservations cluster on temperature. The reviews from the film’s 1997 release find it chilly and clinical, remote where it means to be erotic, and several call it simply uninvolving; The New Yorker argues that its style seals it off from the world altogether. Later reassessments, from The Playlist and The Ringer among others, treat the same coldness as the point and rate the film highly. The spread is wide, from outright dismissal to near-raves, with almost nothing in the middle. ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 27 November 2020. The film holds up well decades later and remains deeply strange, risky, creepy, menacing and hypnotic in its dedication to eroticism. It cannot fully capture the chill of Ballard's novel and feels less contemporary now that cars are less culturally charged. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/nov/27/crash-review-david-cronenberg-james-spader-holly-hunter) ## Time Out — GA Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 3 May 2011. Cronenberg's adaptation of Ballard's novel is imaginative and faithful, consisting chiefly of obsessive, claustrophobic, transgressive sex scenes. It is a dark, disturbing, languorous movie that is admirably assured and true to itself. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/crash) ## Slant Magazine — Jeremiah Kipp Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 5 July 2005. Cronenberg treats the characters with clinical detachment, presenting their car-crash fetish as a quest for genuine sensation amid modern numbness rather than condemning it outright. The film’s cold, metallic visuals and Howard Shore score capture a dispassionate yet oddly soulful exploration of technology forging new flesh. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/crash-1596/) ## Los Angeles Times Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 5 April 1997. The critic finds that Crash arrives with controversy but offers little that is truly surprising or new in its exploration of sex and violence. The film is described as chilly and clinical, full of remote suffering rather than genuine eroticism or emotional engagement. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-04-05-ca-45443-story.html) ## The Independent Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 4 June 1997. The critic finds the film remarkably uninvolving despite its premise from Ballard’s novel, praising the cleverly designed titles and Howard Shore’s music but criticizing the lack of emotional engagement, the realistic style that clashes with implausible scenes, and Cronenberg’s handling of the material as a backward step from his earlier work. [Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/bump-and-grind-in-the-fast-lane-1254193.html) ## The New Yorker — Anthony Lane Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 24 March 1997. The critic calls the film a controlled experiment that uses style to seal itself off from the mess of the world, with an eerie lack of background noise and characters treated as lab rats. He notes that while it gleams with metallic loveliness, its loftiness grows tiring and the desire to be a work of art threw it off the road. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/03/31/1997-03-31-106-tny-cards-000153877) ## The New York Times — Janet Maslin Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 21 March 1997. The critic finds the film disturbing in its initial recklessness and ultimate timidity, noting that it lacks the true audacity its material demands despite being meticulously stylized. She acknowledges it as a striking oddity that deserves to be taken seriously as part of Cronenberg's idiosyncratic career. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/21/movies/an-orgy-of-bent-fenders-and-bent-love.html) ## Variety — Todd McCarthy Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 17 May 1996. Festival review. The critic describes the film as a forbiddingly frigid piece of esoteric erotica that remains an exceedingly intellectual work of cold sensuality with appeal only to specialized audiences. He praises the director's precise control and the film's technical craftsmanship but notes that its concerns are peculiar and off-putting to most viewers. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1996/film/reviews/crash-3-1200445802/) ## The Playlist — The Playlist Staff Rating A. 20 October 2015. The review calls it vital, riveting filmmaking perfectly matched to its source material, an unmistakably Cronenberg take on eroticized technophilia and premillennial angst that is disquieting and full of perverse intelligence. It singles out strong performances, especially from Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas, and James Spader, and the film's enduring ideas about technology, sex, violence, and the psyche. [Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/retrospective-the-films-of-david-cronenberg-20151020/4/) ## The Ringer — Adam Nayman Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 20 May 2021. The critic views Cronenberg's adaptation as a cool, assured provocation that cements his legacy as a boundary-pusher, highlighting its cult following of car-crash fetishists and themes of extremity and numbness. Spader's chrome-plated performance as the desensitized protagonist is singled out for praise as perfectly embodying the film's clinical affect. [Read the review](https://www.theringer.com/2021/05/20/movies/david-cronenberg-crash-james-spader-cannes) ## Eye for Film — Jennie Kermode Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 4 April 2009. The critic finds it a slow-paced, deliberately remote intellectual art film that will leave many cold but rewards patient viewers with a powerful second half and unexpectedly moving conclusions. It singles out the film's precise construction and its ability to make audiences rethink the world through its themes of trauma, desire, and reinvention. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/crash-film-review-by-jennie-kermode) ## The Wrap Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 10 June 2022. In ranking Cronenberg's films, the piece calls Crash his most controversial work and praises its exploration of sexual obsession with car crashes. Elias Koteas's creepy quasi-religious leader and James Spader's haunting portrayal of a lost soul are highlighted for stealing the show and adding depth. [Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/david-cronenberg-films-ranked/) --- © 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/crash.md