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The Cove (2009)
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Reviews Counted:107
Fresh:102
Rotten:5
Average Rating:8/10
Consensus: Though decidedly one-sided, The Cove is an impeccably crafted, suspenseful expose of the covert slaughter of dolphins in Japan.
Theatrical Release:Jul 31, 2009 Limited
Box Office: $619,467
Synopsis: The Cove is an astounding piece of investigative journalism with the heart of an action thriller. Led by Louie Psihoyos, leader of the Ocean Preservation Society, and Richard O'Barry, an... [More]
Director: Louie Psihoyos
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Reviews for The Cove
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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 5/5 |
Restrained and harrowing. Full Review |
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This outstanding documentary is as exciting as a thriller. Full Review |
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5/5 |
This documentary is also as well made as anything released all year, blending hard facts, cold scientific reason plus the thrills of a Hollywood spy movie to terrific effect. Full Review |
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4/5 |
This film virtually creates a new genre: the horror doc. It's a gripping and compelling film about something utterly unthinkable. Full Review |
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4/5 |
A taut, thrilling documentary that plays out like a heist movie while never overshadowing its message or activist credentials. Full Review |
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5/5 |
There’s an effective thriller element to this vividly assembled doc. Full Review |
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4/5 |
The Cove stands out from the crowd due to the readily apparent awfulness of the event it depicts. Full Review |
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4/5 |
The great strength of this documentary about the covert killing of wild dolphins in Japan is its aesthetic: artful edits, zippy music, even a few jokes. Radical stuff for an eco-documentary. Full Review |
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4/4 |
A gripping, powerful and heart-wrenching expose ... activist filmmaking at its best. Full Review |
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4/5 |
One would imagine, and hope, that an Oscar nomination beckons. Full Review |
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4/5 |
Facts, stats and grim archive footage help build up a convincing if one-sided case, but it is the film’s revelatory covert recording that encapsulates the true power of documentary cinema. Full Review |
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4/5 |
If The Cove isn’t in the running for next year’s Best Doc Oscar, there’s something terribly wrong with this world. Gripping exposé, harrowing horror-thriller and devastating agitprop, it takes us to “a little town with a big secret”. Full Review |
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5/5 |
In this new, post-Michael Moore age of documentary filmmaking as lucrative big-screen fare, a documentary that educates without condescension, informs without bias and entertains without losing its focus is a valuable commodity. Full Review |
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4/5 |
Part-espionage thriller, part-documentary. Full Review |
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3/5 |
An involving and persuasive film that remains frustratingly one-sided as it bandies about unsubstantiated accusations, fails to follow up on key issues and leaves you wanting to know much more. Full Review |
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5/5 |
A powerful, important and extremely well made documentary that demands to be seen. Full Review |
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3/5 |
[An] impassioned piece of agit-prop, which goes to great lengths to penetrate Taiji's tight security to expose this problem in gruesome detail. Full Review |
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3.5/4 |
It turns out that wasn't a smile on Flipper's face. Full Review |
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A- |
Tells you with its heart all you want to know about why it's necessary to free the dolphins from captivity and slaughter. Full Review |
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3.5/4 |
Part thriller, part natural history lesson. Full Review |
CommentLatest News for The Cove
November 19, 2009:
Academy Releases Documentary Shortlist 
Awards season is just around the corner, and to prove it, the Academy just released its list of the 15 films still vying for a Documentary Feature Oscar. More...
August 13, 2009:
Green Docs Finding Box Office a Hostile Environment
They have timely topics, great buzz, and meaningful messages -- so why are environmental documentaries like "The Cove" struggling to find theatrical audiences? More...
July 30, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Funny People Is Ambitious But Uneven
This week at the movies, we've got the tears of a clown (Funny People, starring Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen), extra-terrestrial visitors upstairs (Aliens in the Attic, starring... More...
June 21, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review
More...
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