28
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 70Village VoiceVillage VoiceInsular and indulgent as it is, though, the movie is never less than a visual treat.
- 50The A.V. ClubThe A.V. ClubBunraku comes up frustratingly empty, and just as many of its elements simply bloat an overlong run time. (Demi Moore shows up seemingly to give the film more than one female speaking part.) It looks good, but Bunraku feels like a Frankenstein's monster of references that someone failed to animate.
- 40The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttMoshe, who wrote and directed, creates a boldly Expressionistic alternate reality to background this heavy-on-the-action story, but neglects narrative and character beyond the most basic strokes.
- 40Time OutEric HynesTime OutEric HynesBunraku aspires to be "Kill Bill: Vol 3"; it's more like an ornate pitch for a "Dick Tracy" reboot.
- 38Boston GlobeWesley MorrisBoston GlobeWesley MorrisIf Bunraku were serious about subverting or reinventing the genres it's cobbled together, Moore would play the gunslinger or the samurai or the crime boss. But no. All she gets are a couple of scenes that demonstrate that she still looks great soaking wet.
- 30VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyIt's a picture that's akin to a terrarium of plastic flowers -- gaudily decorative, but airless and lifeless.
- 30Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleLos Angeles TimesRobert AbeleNo image or moment is grounded – every shot is augmented with restless animation, smart-ass narration or video game sounds. The artificiality of it all is smothering.
- Everything feels secondhand in Guy Moshe's Bunraku, a potpourri of genres that ends up a morass of clichés.
- 20New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNew York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierIt should surprise no one that visually quirky, graphic-novelish, pulp-noir action flicks rarely come through the sausage machine intact.
- 12Slant MagazineNick SchagerSlant MagazineNick SchagerWriter-director Guy Moshe's crime saga is a work of second-generation derivation, weaving together scraps from homages to Westerns, film noir, samurai films, gangster pics, and class-warfare dramas.