SummaryA Moscow police officer investigates a vicious triple homicide and stumbles upon a high-level international political conspiracy.
Directed By:Michael Apted
Written By:Martin Cruz Smith, Dennis Potter
Gorky Park
Metascore
Mixed or Average
60
User score
Mixed or Average
4.6
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
60
67% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
25% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
8% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
88
The movie is directed with efficiency by Michael Apted (Coal Miner's Daughter) who knows that pacing is indispensable to a procedural.
75
Michael Apted's direction keeps the tension high most of the time, and Dennis Potter's screenplay ably wends through the very complex plot that has but a few loose ends. [13 Dec 1983]
70
On the whole, Mr. Apted's approach to the material is archly effective, making for a crisp, intricate thriller, well able to hold an audience's interest.
67
Directed by Michael Apted, who keeps the action hopping at least for the first hour, and treats most of his Russian characters as reasonably whole human beings. [05 Jan 1984, p.23]
63
It's not a movie for the easily distracted, but it has its rewards for those who pay attention. [19 Dec 1983, p.C6]
50
Apted's tedious, literal-minded approach doesn't come close to solving the problems of a knotty, best-seller plot—the characters are reduced to telling each other what happened. Some action-movie slam-bang would have been more satisfying, if ultimately no more coherent.
30
Hurt's horrendous, with his goofy stilted accent. He talks as though he swallowed a bathtub. [16 Dec 1983, p.24]
User score
Mixed or Average
4.6
11% Positive
1 Rating
1 Rating
67% Mixed
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
22% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
Sep 7, 2024
6
I don't know the book on which the film is based, which starts well as a police thriller, but little by little the development gets tangled up and the appeal of the plot deflates. And it's a shame that, at this point, it can't deserve an update.
Apr 12, 2025
5
Never read the book. But movie should've been much better, given the talent involved. Wiliam Hurt, usually reliable, fails here, with a weak performance, Convoluted plot, far too little suspenseful scenes.
