The only real problem with Black Out, which plays like a cross between “The Hangover” and “Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels”-era Guy Ritchie, is that it’s naggingly over-familiar.
50
Slant MagazineDrew Hunt
Slant MagazineDrew Hunt
The film's various references to other stylistic touchstones, while thematically apt, rarely carry any sort of critical inquiry.
Taking a credibility-straining premise and running with it, the Dutch director Arne Toonen gives Black Out way more energy than sense. Luckily, his antihero, Jos (Raymond Thiry), lacks neither.
Black Out ultimately limps to feature length, burying its intriguing leading man underneath endless mishaps and shenanigans.
40
Village VoiceMichael Nordine
Village VoiceMichael Nordine
A self-aware, borderline self-reflexive action-comedy from the Netherlands, Arne Toonen's Black Out is derivative in a way that undermines its wry sense of self.
In terms of character and plot, not one element of the intended wild ride escapes self-consciousness or becomes the least bit involving.
10
The DissolveNathan Rabin
The DissolveNathan Rabin
In the insufferable, secondhand tradition of countless other regrettable genre films, Black Out is so impressed by itself, it doesn’t even need an audience.