To Kill a Man received mostly positive reviews upon its premiere at the
2014 Sundance Film Festival.
Variety reviewer Guy Lodge, called “To Kill a Man,” a grim, fat-free revenge thriller that extracts an impressive degree of moral equivocation from its exceedingly simple premise." John DeFore in his review for
The Hollywood Reporter called the film "A quiet drama that cares as much about familial alienation as getting away with murder." Carlos Aguilar of
IndieWire grade the film B+ by saying that "Chilean director Alejandro Fernández Almendras' third feature "To Kill a Man" is a quietly powerful character study that meditates on the ramifications of a family man's choice to defend his kind." Lorri Vodi Rupard from
The GATE praised the film by saying that "The tonality of To Kill A Man is that of stark desperation, the subject matter weighty. Still, woven throughout Alejandro’s undertaking there’s tangible humor and pathos as if one is watching an unanimated rip-off of WB’s Roadrunner where Wile E. Coyote has found Jesus and is less emaciated after all these years but still can’t get his man." Chris Michael of
The Guardian gave the film four out of five stars by saying that "This meticulous film squeezes Jorge ever tighter in its grip as his contemptuous wife, his vulnerable daughter and, you feel, his own pride demand that he stand up for his family when the authorities can't kiss it better. A terrifically tense first half culminates in a truly brilliant scene featuring a car alarm used as a lure. The pace subsequently sags, but it all ends with a dramatic pop as sharp as the first of only two gunshots in this menacing, morally agnostic film." ==Accolades==