Alicia I love this movie so much

MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

trublu215 Citadel centers on Tommy, a recently widowed father and his newborn daughter as he begins to cope with the loss of his wife after a brutal attack by local hoodlums. In trying to cope with the loss, Tommy begins to develop a fear of living life and soon he begins to be stalked by her attackers. Citadel is an impressive debut and serves an original idea up but relies heavily on a slow burn screenplay that doesn't always serve it justice. Despite some ultra elongated scenes, Citadel is creepy, violent and very atmospheric. Directed by Ciarian Foy, the film works as a psychological thriller done much in the vein of Them and The Strangers and ends up being a bit of a combo of both. Foy, who also wrote the film, knows how to deliver some hard hitting drama and gets very good performances out of Aneurin Barnard and James Cosmo but he spends entirely too much time creating a slow burn thriller that it tends to drift into some truly low key moments that just are not all that interesting. The first ten minutes are very straight forward and are delivered very well, then Foy decides to spend the next twenty five minutes analyzing agoraphobia. It is interesting for the first couple scenes but Foy seems to keep it frustratingly slow up until the third act. Still, nonetheless, when Citadel kicks off it, it really kicks. The final twenty minutes are very well crafted and, while a bit ridiculous, serves as a very satisfying end to the film. On a technical level, Citadel is on point. Most notably from behind the scenes would be the cinematography. The entire film is done hand held, and really submerses you into this frightening vision of Ireland. It is most certainly the highlight of the film. Overall, Citadel may satisfy some fans of films like House of the Devil, Them, and The Strangers but it doesn't have the spark it needs to be truly engrossing.

Gabriel Teixeira Tommy watches helpless as his pregnant wife is brutally attacked by some kid gang, an event that leaves him with agoraphobia. She manages to deliver the child and months later, the children attack him once again, apparently targeting the baby; Tommy must fight his fears in order to save his child.Nothing too creative here. Claran Foy might have 'based' this on a real experience, but there is little original here; the movie feels like a mix of 'Heartless' with 'The Brood'. In truth, I couldn't shake the similarities that kept rising between this and Cronenberg's twisted fantasy/horror. But unlike that one 'Citadel' tries to be 'serious' or somewhat realistic, which doesn't work. In fact, it is exactly the pretentiousness of trying to make it carry a realistic message and tone that makes this film so weak.Apparently people think this is a social commentary. If this is, it is just a terrible one or very badly mishandled. It might be about street violence and the whole thing gears towards 'you mustn't be afraid of walking around in public'... But street violence IS real; we shouldn't hide because of it, but 'not hiding' and 'going into a gang's den fearlessly' are two completely different things.Plus, what was the deal with the kids? We never get an explanation, or even a hint, of what they are, except that they started 'normal' and, inexplicably, became some kind of monster. It is not necessary to give a clear-cut explanation to everything, but when you try to keep a 'realistic' tone to the film and then go and bring to the screen a half-demon, fear-smelling thing... Well, you really jumped the shark there, Claran Foy.Acting is all around the place, partly due to the lousy characters. Tommy (Aneurin Barnard) is painful to watch; it is one thing to portray an agoraphobic realistically, another is to make him an exaggerated afraid-of-everything, irritating stereotype (that is more of a character criticism, though Barnard's acting certainly didn't help changing it). The bleeding-heart, 'I want to help everyone', 'these kids are just victims of society!' Marie (Wunmi Mosaku) is equally terrible to watch (her death was the closest to a 'good moment'); James Cosmo, the priest, is the only one that manages to make a fun watch.Being Foy's first picture, it is commendable that he managed to create such a good mood and even a few adequate jump scenes (something many seasoned directors still fail at doing). He just needs to hone his screen writing abilities (or better yet, get someone else to write for him) and he should do well.

Paul Magne Haakonsen Unfathomably dull and boring. "Citadel" is one of the more pointless and irrelevant movies that I have seen in a while. You just sit there throughout the movie and think "why?"The story is about a family that live in a condemned building, where the Tommy (played by Aneurin Barnard) see his wife stabbed down by hooded strangers. Their unborn baby is miraculously saved, but the wife dies. Alone with the child, Tommy is given a strange warned by an odd priest (played by James Cosmo) that 'they will come for her'. Tommy's fear intensifies and grows more extreme as his home gets invaded by these hooded strangers and they seem to be haunting his every trail.There were no thrills to this movie, and the storyline was just downright silly and a waste of time, in my opinion. I just didn't get the meaning of this movie.The things that the movie has working for it is the production value, and also the performances put on by Aneurin Barnard and James Cosmo, particularly the latter actor. And also the pace in which the movie tells it story and progresses, it is quickly up in gear and the movie stays in high pace."Citadel" is an odd movie that doesn't appeal to a broad audience. I am sure there there is a segment in the audience that the movie will cater and they will find great enjoyment in the movie. I, however, wasn't fond or entertained by this movie in any way.

Zachar_Laskewicz Although this film was made thanks to sponsorship from the Irish film board, it is far from a piece of Catholic dogma. The character who plays the priest renounces religion entirely and the film's horror is an original and recent addition to the genre. It's full of good ideas and can be related to relatively recent phenomena; the urban sprawl and the creation of enormous flatblocks outside city centres, prevalent across the United Kingdom. Most frighteningly perhaps it represents the disaffected youth who hide themselves from the enormous collection of security cameras which dictate their life. Spawns of drug selling youth hide their identity behind hoodies; who'd have guessed 20 years ago that being approached by a group of youth wearing tracksuits would be such a menacing phenomenon. In this film creative use is made of this fear. The film is far from perfect, but most important is its originality, fear is created the way it should be, as suspense, and the implication of the horror created by its themes don't require an enormous spilling of blood or disgusting special effects to disquiet and disturb you. I'm glad I saw this film; it proves again that truly good additions to the genre, don't originate from Hollywood and don't require its approval to be made.