Felony

Released Oct 17, 2014

1 hr. 45 min.

Mystery & Thriller

Crime

Drama

List

70%

33 Reviews

Tomatometer

46%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

A decorated police officer (Joel Edgerton) covers up his involvement in a traffic accident that left a boy in a coma, but lies and suspicion soon entangle two detectives (Jai Courtney, Tom Wilkinson) assigned to the case.

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Critics Consensus

Felony covers familiar ground but does so with uncommon style, thanks to a thought-provoking script, sharp direction, and powerful work from a talented cast.

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Arnold H

It was an absolute wake up call to those drinking and driving as this plot shoves us that driving after drinking can bring total misery to any potential victim, drink driver, families on all sides. All of the actors vere great in their performance.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/05/24

Full Review

Jonesy R

I loved the movie... I think it demonstrates the gray spectrum of what's just or justified & the spectrum of integrity...it's never as black & white as we'd love to think... especially when our judgement & understanding is of another vs self

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

08/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Police cover-up and corruption... this time in Australia.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I guess every country feels the need to make this type of movie, where a police officer commits some unintentional crime against an innocent, and then the rest of the movie deals with the repercussions of deciding to cover it up. This is combined with the over-prevalent genre of the drunk driver hitting an innocent and having to deal with the moral quandary of not coming forward. Unoriginal, predictable and ultimately boring.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Felony is a police drama that feels like a traditional procedural at times, but it also takes some interesting turns that I didn’t expect. The movie seems to be obsessed with the idea of intent. The audience is led to question whether someone who makes a mistake by accident should be forgiven or if they should be held to the same standard of punishment as someone who planned their crime. I disagreed with some of what the movie was saying, and thought they made some poor choices in setting up this conundrum. However, once the inciting incident happened things were handled well, and I thought Joel Edgerton and Tom Wilkinson were amazing in their lead roles. They both brought so much more than the script required, and added an extra layer of intrigue for me. Jai Courtney on the other hand is as charming as a brick wall. He did what was needed in the role, but the movie would have been better if an actor who could actually emote was in his place. I don’t think there’s a ton of new or original things in the plot of Felony, but I applaud the few places where it strayed from the expected. In particular there is one scene towards the end where a new wrinkle is added to the story and it adds so much. That moment both propels the story in a new direction and also speaks into the themes that had already been established before. I also appreciated some of the minimalist choices they made in the storytelling. While there were a couple times the movie over-explained things, most of the way through the filmmakers avoided that trap. There were a number of moments where they never spelled out what exactly was happening, but you could figure it out through the implications. I didn’t love Felony, but it had enough quality elements that I’m glad I watched it. Also there were a few quirks in the script that I was impressed by, so I’ll have to watch out for more movies that Joel Edgerton writes in the future.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

05/29/18

Full Review

Audience Member

This is one of the very best movies that I have watched about the complexities of crime, both intentional and not. The acting was so good, and the story so riveting, that I watched all the way through without a pause.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/10/23

Full Review

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Matthew Saville

Director

Joel Edgerton

Malcolm Toohey

Jai Courtney

Jim Melic

Tom Wilkinson

Detective Carl Summer

Melissa George

Julie Toohey

Sarah Roberts

Ankhila Sarduka

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8%

16%

Exposed

81%

87%

Prisoners

25%

31%

Reasonable Doubt

40%

61%

The Hollow

TRAILER

for The Hollow

100%

50%

The Aggression Scale

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Jeannette Catsoulis

New York Times

A deeply cynical movie masquerading as a complex moral dilemma, the Australian drama "Felony" proves only that skilled actors and slick photography can tart up even the most problematic script.

Oct 16, 2014

Full Review

Kenneth Turan

Los Angeles Times

Starring a trio of top male actors in splendid roles, the intricate, intimate "Felony" is a police story crossed with a perceptive psychological drama.

Oct 16, 2014

Full Review

Stephanie Merry

Washington Post

It's a rare treat to see a suspenseful crime drama delivered with so much nuance and restraint.

Rated: 3/4

Oct 16, 2014

Full Review

Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

Hardly the banal cop drama its oblique title would imply, Saville's film still lacks a certain finesse that would make this scenario have some sort of lasting impression.

Rated: 2.5/5

Sep 6, 2019

Full Review

Anwen Crawford

The Monthly (Australia)

Felony is too close to generic; another story about gruff Australian coppers, and god knows we've had plenty of those. As the moral stakes increased for Mal and his colleagues I found it difficult to care, because I felt as if I'd seen it all before

Sep 12, 2017

Full Review

Adam DiLeo

IGN Movies

It's unfortunately weighted down by a plodding pace and a depressing, dull narrative that reveals nothing about the characters or human morality.

Rated: 6.4/10

Oct 17, 2014

Full Review

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Synopsis

A decorated police officer (Joel Edgerton) covers up his involvement in a traffic accident that left a boy in a coma, but lies and suspicion soon entangle two detectives (Jai Courtney, Tom Wilkinson) assigned to the case.

Director: Matthew Saville
Executive Producer: Ben Grant, Joel Pearlman, Seph McKenna, Lisa Wilson, Myles Nestel, Craig Chapman, Ben Sachs, Logan Levy
Screenwriter: Joel Edgerton
Distributor: Gravitas Ventures
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 17, 2014, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 26, 2016

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