At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Joaquin Phoenix...please don't participate in such a horrible movie any more! The overdramatic, lethargic, morose and Stephen King like environment of this movie would be good only if it had a sentient plot. You have wasted my time and I am so frustrated as I expected so much more from you. Yes, you act the part of a loony quite well...but damn it...GIVE ME A STORY I CAN FOLLOW!!! Yes, artsy...Yes, dark...Yes, gloomy...but SO WHAT!!! The Shinning was all that...but it kept me glued. This movie had me in rage at the end because it was such a STUPID movie. I hope the guys who are directing your next Joker movie have their heads screwed on right because if you do this again...the only movie I will ever see with you in it is The Gladiator. You were brilliant there. Take that hammer you used in the movie and smash every DVD of You Were Never Really Here. I stayed with the movie thru the end hoping for good development...but when it got to the end and your character dreamed he shot himself in the head...I almost wanted to ask to borrow the gun. But no...I'll live another day. I will check out your next film and hope you redeem yourself.

Lynne Ramsay has outright spoiled a brilliant novel. The changes are inconsequential. The writing is so ineffective for most parts; the characters that stick-out from the book is just a fade-away here. SKIP IT. A brilliant actor in Joaquin Phoenix is wasted.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday MorningJoe (Joaquin Phoenix) is a former war veteran, tormented by nightmarish visions of a past he's struggling to come to terms with. Lacking any real direction in his life, he's offered a shot at redemption when the ambitious Senator Albert Votto (Alex Manette) hires him to track down his missing daughter who's been dragged into the sex trade. However, despite accomplishing his mission, he finds himself plunged into a deadly game of revenge that plunges his already fragile mind over the edge.In a Hollywood landscape still recovering from the recession, we still find ourselves bombarded with 'franchise' movies dominating the multiplexes, either long dormant or presently in the cultural consciousness, a safe bet of making a box office return that justifies the budget. We still find more abstract, independent works being shuffled to the side lines, as seems to be the case with this effort from writer/director Lynne Ramsay, a dark, moody effort with little in the way of humour, and a central plot with plenty of potential that sadly never really engages you the way it should.In the lead role and truthfully as the only character of any real substance, Phoenix fits the role perfectly, gruff and stone faced, and looking like he's put on a few pounds and could do with hitting the gym, and indeed it's a dark, brutal thriller he inhabits, as is the case these days, brutal and pulling no punches, with some graphic, unflinching violence typical of modern cinema. It's trying to stand out as a film by being deeper and more pseudo-intellectual than your average thriller, and in doing so drowns itself in an arthouse vibe that ends up leaving you further absconded.It's too well made and intriguing to be a waste of time, but Ramsay leaves it all too ambiguous and uninvolving to really do it justice. ***

Enjoyed this movie although it's a bit hard to follow. A step into insanity amidst corruption and crimes unspeakable. Phoenix is his usual brilliant self.