--- title: "Gomorrah: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/gomorrah/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/gomorrah" critics_score: 80 critics_reviews: 8 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." --- # Gomorrah (2008): what the critics said Critics' score 80 from 8 reviews: 7 positive, 1 mixed, 0 negative. Most critics praise Gomorrah as a forceful, unsentimental account of the Camorra, stripped of the glamour and familiar pleasures of gangster films. Praise centres on Garrone’s controlled direction, the documentary-like locations and naturalistic performances, which make organised crime feel embedded in ordinary working lives. The reviews repeatedly note how its parallel stories connect street-level violence to wider systems of corruption, without offering reassuring heroes or entertaining villains. The reservations concern what this approach leaves out, rather than its force or conviction. Screen Daily argues that the adaptation loses the book’s journalistic context, while Paste finds little character depth amid the continuing violence. Elsewhere, the slow pace, initial confusion and occasional repetition qualify an otherwise strongly favourable consensus: critics largely agree on the film’s realism, but differ over how much understanding and involvement its cool, fragmented storytelling allows. ## The New Yorker — Anthony Lane Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 15 February 2009. The critic finds the film a beautiful and masterful work that surpasses its source material through controlled storytelling and visual restraint. He singles out the tailor Pasquale’s story and the rueful final glimpse of a Scarlett Johansson gown for its quiet power amid the violence. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/02/23/gritty-cities) ## Empire — Damon Wise Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 26 September 2008. The film avoids pulp gangster tropes for a slow, arthouse style that objectively exposes the Camorra's world without vicarious thrills. It delivers an outstanding drama with an under-the-skin quality, though it may disappoint those seeking a GoodFellas-style exposé. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/gomorrah-review/) ## Evening Standard Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 10 April 2012. Garrone’s powerful film uses a matter-of-fact, cinéma vérité style to examine the Camorra’s operations and their impact on ordinary lives in Naples. It is memorable and angry at the corruption it finds, without creating heroes or colourful villains. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/gomorrah-are-not-goodfellas-7410270.html) ## Screen Daily Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 18 May 2008. Festival review. The critic calls it probably the most authentic and unsentimental mafia movie ever, a courageous bruising ride with impressive performances and edgy visuals. It complains that adapting the book jettisoned journalistic context, leaving only dog-eat-dog chaos with no lasting buzz. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/gomorrah-gomorra/4038782.article) ## Slant Magazine — Fernando F. Croce 20 September 2008. Garrone composes a chilling mosaic of parallel stories that lays out the social, political and economic reverberations of the Camorra with an analyst’s calm and a hitman’s eye for impersonal brutality. The lean, coolly distanced approach feels like a continuation of Francesco Rosi’s caustic exposés, though points grow somewhat redundant. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/gomorrah/) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw 10 October 2008. The film is a powerful, gruelling neo-neorealist portrait of Camorra crime and corruption in Naples that leaves the viewer in despair about the region. It singles out the realistic depiction of gunfire and bystanders' reactions for particular impact. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/oct/10/crime) ## The Hollywood Reporter 16 May 2008. Festival review. The film is powerful and stripped to its essence, depicting the everyday reality of organized crime's foot soldiers with a spectacular cast of mostly non-professionals. It is at times slow and documentary-like but tension-filled and highly realistic. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/gomorra-125889/) ## The New York Times — Manohla Dargis Rating Critic’s Pick. 12 February 2009. The critic praises the film as a corrosive and ferociously unsentimental look at the Camorra that avoids all gangster movie clichés. She singles out its global understanding of how the mob’s tentacles reach from high fashion to toxic waste dumping. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/movies/13gomo.html) ## Time Out — Dave Calhoun Rating 5 out of 5 stars. 7 October 2008. The critic praises the film's unglamorous, powerful and journalistic portrayal of Neapolitan crime, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes. It singles out the authentic locations, non-professional faces and bottom-up perspective on ordinary lives warped by organised crime. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/gomorrah) ## The Skinny — Steven Dalziel Rating ★★★★★. 3 February 2009. The critic praises the film's unrelenting brutality, bleakness, and despair in its portrait of the Camorra, calling it a richly layered, intensely photographed, and forcefully driven visceral portrait of a violent and futile way of life. [Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/dvd-reviews/gomorrah) ## Eye for Film — Val Kermode Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 2 October 2008. The critic calls the film a triumph in its style, performances and confident direction, noting that it rewards concentration despite initial confusion from its five interweaving stories. They single out the documentary-like feel, naturalistic performances and the unrelieved ugliness of the Scampia locations. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/gomorrah-film-review-by-val-kermode) ## The Playlist — Rodrigo Perez Rating B+. 11 September 2008. Festival review. The critic describes the film as intense, unflinching and raw-nerved, delivering a powerful look at the far-reaching effects of crime and corruption through the Camorra. They single out its wake-up call quality as a cutting indictment of the blind eye turned in the name of desperation and greed. [Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/tiff-review-gomorrah-powerful-look-a-20080911/) ## Paste — Jesse Jarnow Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 12 February 2009. The film is an exposé of the Camorra as a vast, dysfunctional criminal bureaucracy rather than a conventional mob drama, with parallel plots across its rackets and a bleak existential core of endless violence with no redemption or character depth. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/matteo-garrone/gomorrahrelease-date-dec-19-limited) --- © 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/gomorrah.md