Al Pacino, no matter what happens during the rest of his acting career, will always be remembered as one of the greatest actors to ever grace the silver screen. Still, his more recent efforts have left something to be desired and, if Rotten Tomatoes is to be believed, his latest movie is no different. In fact, his new movieHangmanhas earned a very rare distinction.Hangmanis now one of very few, terrible movies that boasts a0 percent approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Ouch.
Hangman, which arrives in theaters for limited release this weekend, co-stars Karl Urban and Brittany Snow. A couple of respectable actors in their own right. So what went so wrong here? Apparently, a whole lot. As of this writing, there are 11 reviews counted forHangmanand every single of them is negative. Here’s what the Los Angeles Times had to say about the movie in theirnegative review.
“With a dirge-like pace that provides ample opportunity to figure it all out well ahead of the protagonists, you keep wishing somebody would buy a vowel to hurry things along.”
That’s pretty brutal and it doesn’t get any better. InHangman, decoratedhomicide detectiveRay Archer (Al Pacino) partners with criminal profiler Will Ruiney (Karl Urban) to catch one of the city’s notoriously vicious serial killers, who is playing atwisted version of murderusing the child’s game,Hangman, while journalist Christi Davies (Brittany Snow) reports on the crime spree, shadowing the detectives. That doesn’t sound like a premise so terrible that it would lay a goose egg on the Tomatometer. Yet, here we are. At least the New York Times says it’s better than Al Pacino’s88 Minutes. That’s something, right?
“The most and least that can be said forHangmanis that it doesn’t approach the mesmerizing ineptitude of ‘88 Minutes,’ another movie that pitted Al Pacino against a serial killer from about a decade ago.”
Al Pacino has won Oscars for his work in movies likeScent of a Womanand has acted in plenty of award-worthy movies likeScarface,Heatand one of the greatest movies ever made,The Godfather. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The Village Voice was particularly brutal in their review ofHangman, saying, “You may not take a single frame of this movie seriously, especially whenever Pacino is shuffling around, waving a gun and talking like he’s desperately in need of a mint julep.”
Needless to say, you’re able to probably cross this one off of your watch list.Hangmannow joins the likes of other movies likeAdam Sandler’s The Ridiculous 6, theSaturday Night FeversequelStaying Aliveand Elle Fanning’sThe Nutcracker 3D, which all carry the very rare 0 percent rating onRotten Tomatoes. Can we get Al Pacino at least one more great role before he retires from acting forever?
