- 10
...perhaps the great spy tale of our time.
—Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times
- 9
...rich in both contempo resonance and elegiac melancholy.
—Leslie Felperin Variety
- 9
After establishing an atmosphere of nearly unbearable dread, Alfredson keeps thickening and chilling it.
—Keith Phipps Onion AV Club
- 9
...chilly, marvelously acted and gorgeously composed...
—Andrew O'Hehir Salon
- 9
...a pleasurably sly and involving puzzler - a mystery about mysteries within mysteries.
—Manohla Dargis New York Times
- 9
It is one of the few films so visually absorbing, felicitous shot after shot, that its emotional coldness is noticed only at the end, when all the plot twists are unraveled in a solid piece of thinking-man's entertainment...
—Deborah Young Hollywood Reporter
- 8
...no film this year left me hungrier for a sequel.
—Kyle Smith New York Post
- 8
...Alfredson is strong on chilly atmospherics.
—J. Hoberman Village Voice
- 8
...a puzzle of a highly rarefied order. At times it's enthrallingly clever and subtle; at others it's borderline incomprehensible.
—Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly
- 8
Order may be restored to the Circus, the "bad" elements weeded out, but in the jaundiced world the film has spent the last two hours so effectively delineating, the barriers between good and evil have been shown to be essentially meaningless.
—Andrew Schenker Slant Magazine
- 8
Oldman gives a performance that is flawless in every detail.
—Peter Travers Rolling Stone
- 7
...smart and beautifully made; it also verges on dryness. Its moments of reserved emotion ring true but, echoing through the movie's halls of deception, also a little faint.
—Jesse Hassenger filmcritic.com
- 7
The film employs a largely British cast that is perhaps the most impressive ensemble of any movie this year.
—Claudia Puig USA Today