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The Life of David Gale

The Life of David Gale

Drama · Thriller · Crime · 2003

A man against capital punishment is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row.

Movie details

The Life of David Gale

“The crime is clear. The truth is not.”

2003 Drama · Thriller · Crime 2h 10m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.5 / 10

133.6K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

19 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

31 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

7.4 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

A man against capital punishment is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Life of David Gale?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Rampage

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Where it lives

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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Alan Parker

Written by

Charles Randolph

Kevin Spacey

Kevin Spacey

David Gale

Kate Winslet

Kate Winslet

Bitsey Bloom

Laura Linney

Laura Linney

Constance Hallaway

Rhona Mitra

Rhona Mitra

Berlin

Gabriel Mann

Gabriel Mann

Zack Stemmons

Matt Craven

Matt Craven

Dusty Wright

Jim Beaver

Jim Beaver

Duke Grover

Court is in session

Put The Life of David Gale on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Big-Idea Head

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.