Name : Justin Chang / Alias : NPR
It's a movie that hits every one of its ideological targets, but still winds up missing the mark.

Name : Tom Long / Alias : Detroit News
"Good Kill" is darkly enlightening, but it's not really all that good.

Name : Joe Morgenstern / Alias : Wall Street Journal
Compelling as the subject may be, its abstract nature would challenge the most skillful of dramatists, and Mr. Niccol's script seldom rises above slogans, argumentation and standard-brand domestic tension.

Name : Ty Burr / Alias : Boston Globe
"Good Kill" wants to use the movies as a Trojan horse to confront us with our international sins. It's a worthy effort, even if it's not a very well-built horse.

Name : Sara Stewart / Alias : New York Post
Niccol's film may not be perfect, but it shines a light on a subject many viewers will know vaguely by name - and not much more.

Name : David Rooney / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
Psychologically complex and unsettling .

Name : Soren Anderson / Alias : Seattle Times
Thoughtful and immensely gripping .

Name : Tirdad Derakhshani / Alias : Philadelphia Inquirer
One of the most insightful films about the War on Terror since 9/11.

Name : James Berardinelli / Alias : ReelViews
Good Kill excels as a character study with Niccol's screenplay making Egan a fascinatingly conflicted and flawed individual and Ethan Hawke giving one of his best recent performances bringing the man to life.

Name : Stephen Holden / Alias : New York Times
Disregard the arguments for and against drone warfare advanced in "Good Kill," and the movie still makes a persuasive case that our blind infatuation with all-powerful technology is stripping us of our humanity.

Name : Joe Williams / Alias : St. Louis Post-Dispatch
We need to have a dialogue about the wages of war in the remote-control era. But it's hard to spark a good dialogue with movies whose dialogue is so bad.

Name : Glenn Whipp / Alias : Los Angeles Times
Where Niccol succeeds is in creating an atmosphere of self-loathing, both for those manning the drones and the audience watching them work.

Name : Ben Sachs / Alias : Chicago Reader
The bold, confrontational tone commands one's attention, and the cast - which also includes Bruce Greenwood and Zoe Kravitz - is superb.

Name : Joe Neumaier / Alias : New York Daily News
It's all far more unsettling than any horror film.

Name : Guy Lodge / Alias : Variety
Andrew Niccol takes on the topical issue of drone strikes in a tense war drama notable for its tact and intelligence.

Name : Ann Hornaday / Alias : Washington Post
For the most part, "Good Kill" asks pertinent, enduring questions, not by way of polemic, but through the study of a character whose professionalism and competence are given full respect, even when they're challenged by the mission at hand.

Name : Tom Huddleston / Alias : Time Out
A sombre, intelligent drama that critiques Obama's ongoing drone policy while still positioning its button-pushing characters as tortured anti-heroes.

Name : Chris Nashawaty / Alias : Entertainment Weekly
Good Kill is well-intentioned, but the topic of joystick combat needs more nuanced treatment than it gets here.

Name : Colin Covert / Alias : Minneapolis Star Tribune
How long can you push that button before feeling like an assassin? How do you relate to teammates who say that's exactly the right thing to do?

Name : Peter Travers / Alias : Rolling Stone
Will gamers be the drone pilots of tomorrow? Will death lose its sting? Niccol conjectures all over the place. He's doing too much, pushing too hard. Condemn the guy or clone him? You be the judge.

Name : Stephanie Zacharek / Alias : Village Voice
The picture is quiet, tense, and thoughtful.

Name : Bill Goodykoontz / Alias : Arizona Republic
This is repugnant stuff. But, at least in the film, there's no gray area.

Name : Cary Darling / Alias : Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com
Directed and written by Andrew Niccol (whose phenomenal 1997 film Gattaca also starred Hawke), and supposedly "based on actual events," Good Kill raises important questions about the nature of modern warfare, but it is a bit heavy-handed and strained.

Name : David Edelstein / Alias : New York Magazine/Vulture
Potent enough to make me wish it were less clunky.

Name : Rafer Guzman / Alias : Newsday
The discomfiting premise and a fine performance by Hawke make this somewhat thinly written drama worth seeing.

Name : Anthony Lane / Alias : New Yorker
Hawke is on a roll right now, and "Good Kill" stirs him to another performance of cogency and zeal. Is it sufficient, however, to support an entire movie?

Name : Richard Roeper / Alias : Chicago Sun-Times
But the visuals pack a visceral punch. Every time Tom zeroes in on a target, every time he pushes that button, what we see on those monitors is brutally authentic.

Name : Stephen Whitty / Alias : Newark Star-Ledger
What Niccol is really interested in . is what this kind of warfare does to the men and women pushing the buttons and adding up the numbers.

Name : A.A. Dowd / Alias : AV Club
Heavy on speeches and light on actual drama.

Name : Brad Wheeler / Alias : Globe and Mail
Good Kill is half-measure, with a redemptive ending that plays as safe and bogus.