Terminal received generally negative reviews from critics, with many criticising the plot, pacing, direction and narrative, though Robbie's performance, the film's visual style and production values received praise. On
review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 22% based on 65 reviews, and an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads, "Worth seeking out for only the most hardcore of Margot Robbie completists,
Terminal lives down to the
medical definition of its title in dreadfully derivative fashion." On
Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 27 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
Rolling Stones
Peter Travers panned the film, awarding zero stars, stating, "The title of this wretched
Tarantino-meets-
Blade Runner noir rip-off doubles as a diagnosis". Rex Reed of the
New York Observer also awarded zero stars, calling the film "a turgid, pretentious, and incomprehensible existential joke." David Edelstein of
Vulture gave a negative review, criticising the plot's focus, saying, "since the film doesn't establish a baseline of reality, it's hard to pick out a premise." David Ehrlich of
IndieWire gave the film a D, writing, "Vaughn Stein's
Terminal takes a mess of dead tropes and
Frankensteins them together into a crime saga that's in desperate need of brains. And a soul. And a story." Jacob Knight of
Birth.Movies.Death. heavily criticised Stein's direction and wrote, "no amount of pretty pictures could save a script this abysmally written. Stein has penned scene after scene after scene of nasty people talking circles around one another, no character defined by anything beyond their comic book-ready aesthetic." Jeffrey M. Anderson of
The San Francisco Examiner awarded the film two and a half stars out of four, describing the film as "mediocre", though praising Robbie's performance, writing, "Robbie is a bright one, and even though
Terminal isn't much, it offers a chance to watch her shine." Clint Worthington of
Consequence of Sound heavily criticised Stein's direction, calling the film a "waste of time" and "An entirely empty exercise in dated, exhausting hyper-stylized filmmaking."
Richard Roeper of the
Chicago Sun-Times praised the film, awarding three out of four stars, writing, "The final 15 minutes or so of
Terminal are flat-out nutso. One can imagine Robbie, Myers et al., breaking into laughter after hearing "Cut!" — not out of disrespect for the material, but out of sheer giddiness for having the opportunity to try something so audacious. Even when it doesn't work,
Terminal is a film with never a dull moment." Kenneth Seward Jr. of
IGN gave a mostly positive review, scoring the film a 7.5 out of 10, indicating it is "Good", stating, "
Terminal is an interesting revenge story that mostly works. There are a few missteps, namely a few wasted characters and a straight forward plot made needlessly complicated. Still, Vaughn Stein should be pleased with what's here." Colin Covert of the
Minneapolis Star Tribune gave a highly positive review, awarding three and a half out of four stars, praising the film's visual style, noting, "Every moment of
Terminal engages the eye, and — unexpectedly — the mind. Even the makeup is arresting — the arterial red of Annie's lipstick is hypnotic." James Berardinelli of
Reelviews gave a mixed review, awarding the film two and a half stars out of four, writing, "At its best,
Terminal is a tasty, tangy parfait – a
kaleidoscope of neon-tinged visuals and a twisty storyline with a tortured timeline." However, he criticised the film's ending as "generic" and "anticlimactic". John DeFore of
The Hollywood Reporter gave a mostly negative review criticising Stein's direction, writing, "An airless debut that says much about its writer-director's cultural diet and little about anything else in the world, Vaughn Stein's
Terminal blends tropes from several sorts of crime flicks into a
soundstagey affair that's more brittle than hard-boiled." Jeannette Catsoulis of
The New York Times also gave a negative review, calling the film "a flashy, hyperstylized bore." Shaun Munro of
Flickering Myth gave a mostly positive review, stating, "It's messy and navel-gazingly ostentatious, but fitfully entertaining thanks largely to a scene-stealing, against-type performance from
Simon Pegg." == References ==