Critics Consensus

Critics Consensus: The Debt is Certified Fresh

Plus, guess the Tomatometers for Apollo 18 and Shark Night 3D.

by | September 1, 2011 | Comments

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This week at the movies, we’ve got spy suspense (The Debt, starring Helen Mirren and Sam Worthington), lunar scares (Apollo 18, starring Lloyd Owen and Warren Christie), and marine mayhem (Shark Night 3D, starring Sara Paxton and Sinqua Walls). What do the critics have to say?

The Debt

76%

The Debt promises a return to the twisty, morally ambiguous intrigue of Cold War-era spy movies. And critics say it mostly delivers; the film boasts an outstanding cast and scenes of white-knuckle tension that help to alleviate its occasional lapses. Helen Mirren stars as a retired member of an elite Mossad unit that tracked down a fugitive Nazi war criminal years before. However, it turns out the case wasn’t quite as closed as they thought, and revelations from the past reverberate in the present. The critics say The Debt is clunky in spots, but its outstanding cast and smarter-than-average script keep things on track.

Apollo 18

24%

It appears the folks behind Apollo 18 were afraid that critics wouldn’t be over the moon for their film, and so it heads to theaters without being screened. Two astronauts are sent to the moon on a secret mission, only to discover that Earth’s only satellite is overrun with deadly parasites. Hey, everyone, stop playing Dead Space for a minute and guess that Tomatometer!

Shark Night 3D

19%

There’s something fishy going on with Shark Night 3D, since it wasn’t screened for critics prior to its release. Sara Paxton stars as a party-hearty young woman whose trip to her family’s lake house is ruined when a school of sharks are discovered to be prowling the waters. Once again, it’s time to play Guess the Tomatometer! (And be sure to check out this week’s Total Recall, in which we run down some of cinema’s scariest marine life.)

Also opening this week in limited release: