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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 : 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 : 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 : Sandy Cohen / Alias : Associated Press
With Damon's charm center stage, Scott has crafted an exciting, hopeful story about humanity at its best: The brightest minds working together for a common goal that bridges international borders and forges a feeling of unity.

Name : Stephen Whitty / Alias : Newark Star-Ledger
There is a lot here to delight audiences of many kinds.

Name : Chris Vognar / Alias : Dallas Morning News
The Martian is fueled by charm, curiosity and the scientific method. It plays like a modernized Kennedy-age fantasy of discovery, space and can-do initiative.

Name : Rene Rodriguez / Alias : Miami Herald
The Martian does look like it was shot on Mars, even though the film's tone is suspiciously light and cheerful for Scott, who tends to thrive on a chillier, more dour habitat. But who can bemoan this great filmmaker a crowd-pleaser?

Name : David Edelstein / Alias : New York Magazine/Vulture
Cynical as I am about how monster-budget blockbusters have come to dominate the studio mind-set, I can't imagine anyone not liking this one.

Name : J. R. Jones / Alias : Chicago Reader
3-D conveys the frightening depth of space, but the suspense machinery crowds out all but the most banal philosophizing.

Name : Tony Hicks / Alias : San Jose Mercury News
Watney could be the perfect character for Damon, who easily slides into the persona of a man who's relentless, optimistic, intelligent, sarcastic, self-effacing, and inspirational.

Name : Chris Nashawaty / Alias : Entertainment Weekly
Scott's sci-fi adventure is the kind of film you leave the theater itching to tell your friends to see.

Name : Peter Debruge / Alias : Variety
"The Martian" should do far more than just make Fox a ton of money; it could conceivably rekindle interest in the space program and inspire a new generation of future astronauts.

Name : Rafer Guzman / Alias : Newsday
You'll root for Damon as a resourceful science whiz, but the movie's total absence of plot results in a narrative vacuum.

Name : Barry Hertz / Alias : Globe and Mail
Hell, I'm scared of simply sleeping outdoors and I walked out of the movie with just the tiniest daydream of strapping myself into a rocket and shooting for the stars (ideally with Matt Damon as my co-pilot).

Name : Todd McCarthy / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
Damon provides comfortable company during the long stretches when he's onscreen alone, and the actor's physicality makes Mark's capability entirely credible.

Name : James Berardinelli / Alias : ReelViews
This is science fiction for sophisticated audiences and, as such, a fulfilling and satisfying experience.

Name : Bruce Kirkland / Alias : Toronto Sun
Like Alfonso Cuaron's wonderful close-space thriller Gravity, Scott's The Martian is all the more interesting because it is linked with possibilities and even probabilities.

Name : Peter Rainer / Alias : Christian Science Monitor
The Martian plays to both Scott's strengths and weaknesses. By relegating Mark's predicament to a purely survivalist scenario, he keeps things humming along without ever widening the horizon. But there was an obligation to widen the horizon.

Name : Christopher Orr / Alias : The Atlantic
The film is a profound testament to the rare-and underrated-virtue of simply not screwing anything up.

Name : Cary Darling / Alias : Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com
This marks a solid return to form for Scott, whose last few films ( Exodus: Gods and Kings, The Counselor and Prometheus) have veered from the leaden to the unwatchable. Scott may have found himself by getting lost in space.

Name : Rex Reed / Alias : New York Observer
The Martian is a science fiction popcorn movie that is destined to be a genuine crowd pleaser.

Name : Bill Goodykoontz / Alias : Arizona Republic
Damon is terrific. But this is by no means a one-man show.

Name : Adam Graham / Alias : Detroit News
Turns out getting stranded on Mars can lead to a whole lot of fun.

Name : Kenneth Turan / Alias : Los Angeles Times
Damon is as likable an American actor as we have and ideally cast to convey the pleasing self-confidence and intrepid sense of humor that characterized Watney in the book.

Name : Ann Hornaday / Alias : Washington Post
The problem-solving valorized in "The Martian" provides a simultaneously stirring and spirited example of how cool science can be. As NASA-Hollywood plots go, this one is worth lapping up like all the water on Mars.

Name : Steven Rea / Alias : Philadelphia Inquirer
The Martian is stirring and powerful, boasting a commanding performance from Damon.

Name : Peter Travers / Alias : Rolling Stone
Ridley Scott rediscovers his light touch in a space epic that's fun to geek out at. Damon - a fine actor with the magnetism you only find in a true movie star - keeps you glued.

Name : Gail Pennington / Alias : St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Don't let seeing the movie stop you from reading the book.

Name : Joshua Rothkopf / Alias : Time Out
Bringing optimism, nerd-itude and a touch of crazy to his character's solo ordeal - at one point, scraggly Watney calls himself a "space pirate" - Damon is the key to the movie's exuberance.

Name : Andrew O'Hehir / Alias : Salon.com
A tremendously exciting popcorn spectacle, and also a portrait of extraplanetary survival convincing enough that it had my tech-obsessed 11-year-old companion on his feet cheering on several occasions.

Name : Colin Covert / Alias : Minneapolis Star Tribune
It's a big-hearted mash note to science nerds, optimism, grit and guts. With wonderful dramatic pacing, acting, subject matter, Abba soundtrack anthems and "Lord of the Rings" jokes, "The Martian" is a clever feel-good movie on an epic scale.

Name : Peter Howell / Alias : Toronto Star
It's one of the year's best movies and widescreen 3D experiences, a crackerjack adventure that celebrates human ingenuity over mechanical contrivance.

Name : Stephanie Zacharek / Alias : Village Voice
As elaborate and expensive-looking as The Martian is, it's almost totally lacking in poetry.

Name : Brian Truitt / Alias : USA Today
Damon totally sells what is arguably his most likable role in years with a balance of charming personality and compelling need to cheer hard for this guy.

Name : Mick LaSalle / Alias : San Francisco Chronicle
By the finish, the science discussions have become impenetrable, the musical sequences are coming fast and furious, and every bit of action that should take five minutes takes 15.

Name : Dana Stevens / Alias : Slate
The animating humanism of Scott's film is irreducible. It's a wry tribute to the qualities that got our species into space in the first place: our resourcefulness, our curiosity and our outsized, ridiculous, beautiful brains.

Name : Lou Lumenick / Alias : New York Post
The best thing that either Matt Damon and director Ridley Scott have done in years.

Name : Manohla Dargis / Alias : New York Times
What makes this epic personal is Mr. Scott's filmmaking, in which every soaring aerial shot of the red planet is answered by the intimate landscape of a face.

Name : Alonso Duralde / Alias : TheWrap
Not only does the film stress the importance of using math and physics to solve problems, but it also makes a plot based on scientific inquiry as exciting and unpredictable as the kind that involves punching everyone and then blowing everything up.

Name : Richard Roeper / Alias : Chicago Sun-Times
Damon is terrific. The movie lives and breathes on his performance, and he comes through in every scene.

Name : Michael Phillips / Alias : Chicago Tribune
Those who prefer their science fiction more dour, and dire, may resist the film's fuzzy humanist impulse. I found it refreshing and sincere.

Name : Chris Klimek / Alias : NPR
Even adjusting for flattery, it's an easy film to love - one so suspenseful and funny and just richly, consistently good you might get mad at it falling a few astronomical units short of great.

Name : Mike D'Angelo / Alias : AV Club
At its heart, The Martian is an unapologetically stirring celebration of our ability, as a species, to solve even the most daunting problems via rational thought, step by step by step.

Name : Alex Pappademas / Alias : Grantland
It's a brisk, funny piece of competence-porn sci-fi.

Name : Joe Morgenstern / Alias : Wall Street Journal
What's so stirring about the film is that, before and after everything else, it truly is about being human.

Name : Ty Burr / Alias : Boston Globe
The movie's a valentine to creative collaboration as well as an example of it. It's enough to make you almost grateful.