The reviews are unanimous. Every critic finds Errol Morris’s investigation of a wrongful conviction gripping, and nearly all of them praise the same two things: the stylised re-enactments, staged from several contradictory points of view, and Philip Glass’s score, which more than one describes as ominous or nightmarish. Most critics also credit the film with something beyond itself, noting that it helped free the man at its centre and set the pattern for the serious true-crime documentary that followed.
The spread is narrow. The only real reservation comes from the Los Angeles Times, which calls the film taxing as well as fascinating and stops short of the enthusiasm found elsewhere, though it still admires the noir look and the case Morris builds against Texas justice. The later reviews, written decades on, are if anything warmer than the ones from 1988, treating the film as a landmark rather than an experiment.