49
Metascore
22 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80VarietyLeonard KladyVarietyLeonard KladyThe truly chilling aspect of Killing Zoe is the correlation Avary makes between the gang’s nihilistic attitude and its penchant for violence. He pinpoints the schism in a precise and unnerving manner.
- 63Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertIt must have been even more exhausting to make this film than it is to watch it. But it's made with a kind of manic joy that makes me suspect its writer-director, Roger Roberts Avary, might develop into a considerable filmmaker, once he thinks of something to say.
- 63ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliUltimately, the greatest fault with Killing Zoe may lie in Avary's ambition. In trying to do too much (crime film, love story, psychological thriller, and dissection of an alienated generation) with a ninety-minute motion picture, his focus becomes blurred. Regardless, with a style that alternately recalls John Woo and Sam Peckinpah, and a tone that is nihilistic in the extreme, he has created a movie that, while obviously flawed, isn't easily forgotten.
- 60Los Angeles TimesPeter RainerLos Angeles TimesPeter RainerKilling Zoe is a raucous, arty little neo-film-noir that comes equipped with a bucket of blood to splatter the halls of convention. It’s not terribly good but you keep expecting it to take off in unexpected directions.
- 50Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAustin ChronicleMarc SavlovQuentin Tarantino sans the witty dialogue.
- 50San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleKilling Zoe is another jolly bloodbath about disaffected young people having trouble getting in touch with their feelings, so they go on a spree, killing people, killing everything, tra-la- la-la-la.
- 50Washington PostHal HinsonWashington PostHal HinsonFor all its tough-guy posturing, Killing Zoe seems like a boy's plaything, the cinematic equivalent of pulling the wings off flies.
- 50Washington PostWashington PostThere have to be better ways of wasting money and killing time than the fashionable nihilism of Killing Zoe.
- 50The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinMr. Avary's debut feature, fiercely ambitious but way out of control, is an orgiastically violent exercise in hand-me-down nihilism, much more firmly rooted in cinematic posturing than in real pain.
- 50TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineViolent, kinetic, and occasionally clever, KILLING ZOE is no match for either RESERVOIR DOGS or PULP FICTION, but it's a zoned-out rollercoaster ride of the first order.