Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story
Metascore
86

Universal acclaim - based on 6 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6

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Critic Reviews

  1. Boston Herald
    Reviewed by: Mark A. Perigard
    Jul 26, 2018
    91
    You may think you know the story, but the accumulation of detail, in new interviews and video and audio clips in this six-part documentary from producer Shawn Carter (also known to the world as musician and mogul Jay-Z), begins like a light snow fall and turns into a bracing nor’easter.
  2. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Robyn Bahr
    Jul 31, 2018
    90
    Gutting. ... Rest in Power is more than just a record of Martin’s brief life and shocking death: It’s a call to action. Furst and Willoughby Nason’s work is an overwhelming collage of interviews, audio recordings and video footage, expertly stitched together to tell the story of a Skittles-carrying black teenager who was confronted by a paranoid neighborhood watchman and shot during their altercation.
  3. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Lorraine Ali
    Jul 30, 2018
    90
    A potent, moving six-part documentary offering fresh insight into the 2012 killing of unarmed teen Martin by 28-year-old vigilante George Zimmerman. ... It’s the way in which directors Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason connect new and old details of the case with its wide-spread effect that makes Rest in Power a comprehensive, emotional and brutally honest look at America since that fatal shooting.
  5. IndieWire
    Reviewed by: Steve Greene
    Jul 30, 2018
    83
    Rest in Power is a representative collage. A turning point in some ways, a reminder of what hasn’t changed in others, it’s a time capsule for a country where this could not only happen, but happen again.
  6. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Kristen Baldwin
    Jul 30, 2018
    83
    It’s all far too much to cover in 44 minutes, and the last episode of Rest in Power feels like a conversation that gets cut off mid-sentence. What started as an effort to record a moment in history became, by the end, a documentary of the moment we’re living now. If ever a series had enough material for a second season, sadly this is it.
  7. The Daily Beast
    Reviewed by: Libbby Torres
    Jul 31, 2018
    80
    The series, directed by Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason and produced by Jay-Z, doesn’t add much new information to the existing narrative. It doesn’t need to. Instead, it takes a heartbreaking, in-depth look at the shooting more than six years later—and the state of race relations in America today.

User Reviews

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User Score
3.8

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 34 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 34
  3. Negative: 20 out of 34
  1. Faced8821
    Aug 26, 2018
    2
    Exactly what you would expect from a “black lives matter” like prospective on the events sorrounding the Martin/Zimmerman situation. It wasExactly what you would expect from a “black lives matter” like prospective on the events sorrounding the Martin/Zimmerman situation. It was well produced however extremely biased. If you’re a BLM supporter you will love it. If you’re not you will more than likely see this as a propodanga piece for the BLM.… Full Review »
  2. Salsassin
    Aug 28, 2018
    0
    While this Series is expertly produced and visually very appealing, it does not claim to be fiction but a documentary, and thus gets a failingWhile this Series is expertly produced and visually very appealing, it does not claim to be fiction but a documentary, and thus gets a failing grade for presenting serious bias, distortions of facts, and outright lies. It is as one sided as one can get while pretending not to be. I would definitely watch the entire trial instead to get a better idea of what happened.… Full Review »
  3. emeraldstorm
    Aug 14, 2018
    0
    Much like the media coverage of this event, this series is a complete and total distortion and fabrication of the actual events that tookMuch like the media coverage of this event, this series is a complete and total distortion and fabrication of the actual events that took place that evening. If you are interested in learning anything about what happened, watch the trial, not this.… Full Review »
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