Essential Killing

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Essential Killing

R,

2010,

1h 24m,

Mystery & Thriller/

War

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Watchlist

Watchlist

77%

53 Reviews

Tomatometer

46%

2,500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

77%

Tomatometer

53 Reviews

46%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

A Taliban soldier (Vincent Gallo) struggles to survive after he escapes his captors and flees into the Polish countryside.

Critics Consensus

Driven by a uniquely stark mood and propulsive direction, Essential Killing excels due to an unrelentingly visceral performance from Vincent Gallo.

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Ben Sachs

Chicago Reader

May 5, 2020

It's great screen acting, as [Vincent] Gallo expressively uses his body to make it part of the film's overall design.

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Scott Tobias

AV Club

May 5, 2020

B-

Essential Killing goes so far out of its way to avoid political commentary that the commentary that remains is slim, reduced to a familiar, though occasionally striking, statement on man's animal nature.

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Tara Brady

Irish Times

May 5, 2020

The religious-themed inserts are incongruous in a project that so studiously sidesteps political markers and prove an unwanted distraction in the cinema.

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Giuseppe Sedia

Kino Mania

Aug 10, 2023

4.5/5

Skolimowski succeeds in directing a minimalistic escape movie that enhances the physical performance of a wonderfully unrecognizable Vincent Gallo as the Taliban runaway [about] the many-sided taboo of Polish politics and the CIA’s covert operations.

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Paul Whitington

Irish Independent

May 5, 2020

3/5

Once [Jerzy] Skolimowski has established his story's visual momentum, it goes precisely nowhere.

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Allan Hunter

Daily Express (UK)

May 5, 2020

3/5

Tightly controlled by veteran director Jerzy Skolimowski and beautifully shot on location in Israel and Poland, Essential Killing is an exciting if wildly implausible fable.

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Theodore M

Mar 22, 2018

Only 83 minutes!...It seemed like 83 hours.

Luke R

Jul 9, 2017

Jerzy Skolimowski's survival tale benefits from a steady, muted performance by VIncent Gallo.

Draco W

Dec 13, 2016

The story of survival of a man from, what we presume, Afghanistan lost in the middle of the taïga of Siberia. Not a killer by choice, a killer for survival, for the essential. Vincent Gallo is truly a good actor, it is too bad we don't see him enough. Not a must see but a good film.

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Jerzy Skolimowski

Director

Vincent Gallo

Mohammed

Emmanuelle Seigner

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Synopsis

A Taliban soldier (Vincent Gallo) struggles to survive after he escapes his captors and flees into the Polish countryside.

Director: Jerzy Skolimowski
Producer: Ewa Piaskowska, Jerzy Skolimowski
Screenwriter: Jerzy Skolimowski, Ewa Piaskowska
Production Co: Element Pictures, Cylinder Production, Skopia Film
Rating: R
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, War
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 23, 2012
Runtime: 1h 24m

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