ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

thomasjay-52277 Such a hyper stylised film might be a turn off for some but personally the breakneck pace of the film is amazing in telling such a detailed story and also keeping things light hearted in what's quite frankly a bleak existence for our protagonist 'Rocket'. An extremely enjoyable film the twist of sorts at the end is very pleasant

adonis98-743-186503 Two boys growing up in a violent neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro take different paths: one becomes a photographer, the other a drug dealer. Cidade De Deus (City of God) has a very stylish look as a film but i also enjoyed the camera frame work at the beginning and how it was spinning so damn fast. Unfortunately despite the excellent camera work and very good cinematography the film was extremely slow pacing and that kinda took me out of the whole thing since the acting was pretty good and the way that it depicts some events were brutally honest and 100% violent but as i said the pacing was very off and just made me yawn in certain moments. (5.5/10)

hernie22 It would be rather cheap to tag City Of God "the South American Goodfellas", as if every region of the world is somehow entitled to at least one gangster masterpiece in the freewheeling Scorsese tradition. (Where, you might ask, is the British Goodfellas?) However, since the audience for a two-hour-plus Brazilian movie might not show without some strong encouragement, let's make this clear: City Of God is the South American GoodFellas.

muons This is a movie about young people who live in the guts of Rio de Jeneiro. It starts with a scene where a gang of children chase a running chicken and suddenly flashbacks to 60s to set up the background for the main theme. After that, more than 90% of the movie are dedicated to laying the ground work for the opening scene, which is indeed the overture of the finale and a substantial amount of mental effort is needed to piece together the events which unfold at a very fast pace and involve a lot of characters. Despite its patchy storytelling style with full of flashbacks, the movie is coherent without any plot holes. Although a good deal of the actors are recruited amateurs from the favela the acting is pretty good and director's portrayal of the gang leader Ze Pequeno is uncompromising. The movie's fast tempo and action packed scenes doesn't leave any room for character development but this doesn't really stick out. Viewing more than once will probably be needed to grasp the whole story with its details.