69
Metascore
30 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80VarietyScott FoundasVarietyScott FoundasRanging over familiar material, but made vivid by Morris’ fecund associations and invigorating stylistic flourishes.
- 80EmpireAngie ErrigoEmpireAngie ErrigoDedicated to Morris’ champion, Roger Ebert, who would be proud, this is a provocative, revelatory and disturbing film.
- 72Film.comFilm.comThe Fog of War is the superior film, but The Unknown Known is more unsettling.
- 67The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloTackling another secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, in The Unknown Known, Morris has finally met his match. The film is illuminating only in its utter lack of illumination — for looking deep into the eyes of someone incapable of letting his guard down and finding, predictably, nothing whatsoever.
- 60Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfMorris's new subject looks relaxed and comfortable as ever lobbing out the same old evasions. He probably loves the attention from the Oscar-winning director.
- 50The PlaylistOliver LytteltonThe PlaylistOliver LytteltonFrom a procedural perspective, the film is an insightful look into the life of a Secretary Of Defense, but as an exploration into how the war in Iraq was allowed to happen, it’s much, much less satisfying
- 50The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyAn unsuccessful attempt to get inside the head, under the skin or through the looking glass of Bush administration Secretary of Defense and Iraq War proponent Donald Rumsfeld.
- 50Slant MagazineSteve MacfarlaneSlant MagazineSteve MacfarlaneViewers' tolerance for Errol Morris's apparent sheepishness will hinge on their prior appreciation of the filmmaker's investigative acumen.
- 40The TelegraphRobbie CollinThe TelegraphRobbie CollinMorris gives it the old college try, but Rumsfeld is too smooth an operator to let anything slip.