Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Jul 21, 2026 3.5/5

Despite strong performances from Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall, "Falling Down" gets more toothless as it goes. While it's engaging and slick, it's ultimately a eunuchized provocation.

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Niall Browne Movies in Focus Jul 21, 2026 4/5

Joel Schumacher’s Falling Down is a film which manages to be as relevant and incendiary today as it was when it was first released back in 1993.

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Joshua Tyler Giant Freakin Robot Jun 23, 2026

Falling Down achieved the opposite of its intent. Rather than empowering real-world Martin Prendergasts, it finished the job of silencing them.

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Bianca Garner Filmotomy Oct 10, 2024

Its technical aspects along with Douglas’ performance are praise worthy. There is so much to admire from a screenwriting perspective as it pulls you instantly into this world...

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Mick LaSalle San Francisco Chronicle Jan 11, 2023 4/4

A brilliant drama with black-comic undertones. The film is directed by Joel Schumacher and stars Michael Douglas, in what may be the best performance of his career,

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Richard Propes TheIndependentCritic.com Sep 7, 2020 4.0/4.0

Falling Down," a stellar film, is Joel Schumacher's miracle.

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Barbara Shulgasser Common Sense Media Jul 17, 2020 2/5

Disturbing '90s crime thriller has violence and language.

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Tom Meek Cambridge Day Jul 8, 2020 3/4

This is probably Schumacher's most accomplished work besides Tigerland and, interestingly, shot in L.A. around the time of the riots.

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Sergio Benítez Espinof Jul 27, 2019

Even decades later, It is still as a very actual film. [Full Review in Spanish]

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David Nusair Reel Film Reviews Dec 6, 2018 3.5/4

It's a somewhat high-concept premise that's employed to consistently engrossing effect by filmmaker Schumacher...

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Mark Amory The Spectator Jul 24, 2018

We cannot make out if we are meant to like him or not, or why he is so angry, and this is intriguing.

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Quentin Curtis Independent on Sunday Nov 29, 2017

Director Joel Schumacher, credited with toning down Ebbe Roe Smith's script, paces the film rivetingly, which goes to show that good film-making doesn't guarantee a good film. Falling Down is as sleek and efficient as a torture chamber.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Jul 18, 2011

None of the characters ever rises beyond the level of his or her generic functions, and by the end the overall emptiness of the conception becomes fully apparent.

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Richard Schickel TIME Magazine Jul 18, 2011

Let's face it, there is an element of truth in the character of D-FENS. But it is, finally, tabloid truth.

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Kevin Carr 7M Pictures Jan 10, 2010 3/5

The character of William Foster (simply called D-Fens in the closing credits) represents an element of our collective id.

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Walter Chaw Film Freak Central Dec 7, 2009 1/4

Atrociously written by actor Ebbe Roe Smith and atrociously directed (it goes without saying) by Joel Schumacher...

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Peter Canavese Groucho Reviews Jun 1, 2009 3/4

A heavy-handed potboiler, but as it raises the temperature, it does give cause to consider the line--so easily crossed--between social function and disasterous personal undoing. [Blu-ray]

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John J. Puccio Movie Metropolis May 24, 2009 6/10

...holds up pretty well today, even if its tone meanders all over the place.

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Variety Staff Variety Mar 26, 2009

At first comes across like a mean-spirited black comedy and then snowballs into a reasonably powerful portrait of social alienation. The tone is unremittingly dour, however.

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David Ansen Newsweek Mar 31, 2008

A real artist could make something incisive or darkly hilarious out of this moral tightrope act. Schumacher, veering recklessly between social satire, kick-ass fantasy and damsel-in-distress melodrama, plays the game for opportunistic cheap thrills.

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