--- title: "Z: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/z/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/z" critics_score: 82 critics_reviews: 9 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." --- # Z (1969): what the critics said Critics' score 82 from 9 reviews: 9 positive, 0 mixed, 0 negative. Every one of the nine reviews is positive, and most say much the same thing: Costa-Gavras takes a real Greek political assassination and tells it with the pace and violence of an American thriller, and the result grips. Critics praise Raoul Coutard’s photography, which several describe as having the look of a documentary, and Françoise Bonnot’s editing for the momentum. Mikis Theodorakis’s score is singled out more than once for building tension, and Yves Montand and the supporting cast are credited with giving the film’s anger a human face. The reservations are about how far to trust that grip. The New York Times, reviewing in 1969, thinks the film manipulates its audience and plays to its prejudices in ways that will be mistaken for fine art; Slant, forty years later, finds the reputation as an uncompromising thriller overstated and parts of it conventional. Even so the spread is narrow, and no critic argues it fails as entertainment. ## Los Angeles Times — Kevin Thomas Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 20 November 1997. The critic hails it as a 1969 classic that is as exciting as a detective thriller and as authentic-looking as a documentary, plunging viewers into chaos with raw documentary realism and urgent style. It singles out the film's chilling depiction of how quashing dissent leads to a police state and its status as a profound human document with bravura style. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-nov-20-ca-55574-story.html) ## The New Yorker — Pauline Kael Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 6 December 1969. The critic describes it as an almost intolerably exciting political thriller that builds tremendous tension while serving as a purposeful political act in a commercial package. She singles out its dynamic, robust photography and skillful use of melodramatic techniques drawn from American gangster films to expose fascist corruption. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1969/12/13/exiles-2) ## Time Out — DT Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 18 April 2012. Costa-Gavras' crowd-pleasing left-wing thriller recreates the 1965 Lambrakis affair and its uncovering of police and government corruption using American thriller techniques to gripping effect. Though conspiracies are now commonplace, it notes the film's original impact. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/z) ## Empire — David Parkinson Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 21 July 2006. The critic praises Costa-Gavras's film as a powerful and influential political thriller based on real events. He highlights the outstanding photography by Raoul Coutard and Oscar-winning editing by Françoise Bonnot as key strengths that influenced later thrillers. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/z-review/) ## Slant Magazine — Bill Weber Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 26 October 2009. The film remains an eye-catching, fast-paced watch forty years on, but its reputation as an uncompromising thriller feels overstated. The critic singles out the core of idealism and fury, embodied in the resistance of ordinary people, as what overcomes its more conventional elements. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/z/) ## The New York Times — Vincent Canby Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 9 December 1969. The critic calls it an immensely entertaining topical melodrama that manipulates emotional responses and appeals to prejudices in satisfying ways, likely to be mistaken for fine art rather than popular movie art. It notes the film's origins as a Jury Prize winner at Cannes and its basis in real Greek political events. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1969/12/09/archives/screen-greek-symbols-costagavras-directs-z-topical-drama.html) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1968. The critic calls it a punchy political picture that mixes action, violence, and conspiracy on a robust scale, based on a real Greek political assassination but masked as fiction in an unnamed country. Director Costa-Gavras is praised for dynamic pacing without exploiting the material, with strong performances especially from Yves Montand. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1968/film/reviews/z-1200421739/) ## Collider — Cathal McGuinness Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 7 January 2025. The critic hails Z as the best example of the political thriller genre, praising its blend of thrilling suspense and bleak political commentary on dictatorship and corruption. The score by Mikis Theodorakis and Raoul Coutard's gritty cinematography are singled out for building tension like investigative journalism. [Read the review](https://collider.com/z-movie-1969-thriller/) ## Paste — Craig D. Lindsey Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 26 February 2024. The critic calls Z a savage yet entertaining political thriller and dark satire that remains highly relevant, crediting its taut pacing, set pieces, and bleak conclusion. The exhilarating score by Mikis Theodorakis and the performances (especially supporting turns) are highlighted for making the message film work as genre entertainment. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/costa-gavras/z-costa-gavras-political-radical-revolutionary-anniversary) --- © 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/z.md