The Penalty fingerprintHigh energy, strong craft, emotionally cool.
Tense and violent
Builds slowly, so the intensity comes in waves.
Deeply moving and melancholic
Serious throughout
Crime, the mind, and society
Lived-in and easy to get lost in.
Standout performances, direction, and characters
Standout cinematography and score
Tense and violent
Builds slowly, so the intensity comes in waves.
The Penalty is tense and violent. The story builds slowly, so the intensity comes in waves.
Deeply moving and melancholic
Emotionally, it's deeply moving and melancholic.
Serious throughout
Expect almost no humor.
Crime, the mind, and society
Lived-in and easy to get lost in.
Its world is built around crime, the mind, and society. The setting feels lived-in and easy to get lost in.
Standout performances, direction, and characters
The performances, direction, and characters stand out.
Standout cinematography and score
Look and sound: the cinematography and score stand out.
Based on the GoodWatch fingerprint: our scores for 70+ attributes of every movie. Select a row to see all of them.
You are here: The PenaltyTap a poster to move
You are herePreview
vscompared with The Penalty
The Penalty1920
Point at a poster to compare itHold a poster to compare it
A chip fills to its level. Tap a full one for titles without that trait, a low one for titles with it.
Open a page:Woyzeck (1979)Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)Fireworks (1997)The Night of the Hunter (1955)Se7en (1995)The North Water (2021)The Great Silence (1968)Red Rooms (2023)Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922)No Country for Old Men (2007)Tyrannosaur (2011)The Chaser (2008)High Plains Drifter (1973)Taxi Driver (1976)The Rule of Jenny Pen (2025)Rolling Thunder (1977)Eyes Without a Face (1960)Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)Shinjuku Incident (2009)The Lost Weekend (1945)Pandora's Box (1929)Dogman (2018)Onibaba (1964)Polytechnique (2009)Monster (2004)Brother (2000)A Short Film About Killing (1988)Affliction (1998)The Tribe (2014)Berlin Syndrome (2017)The Memory of a Killer (2003)Martin (1978)Bullhead (2011)Perfume (2018)The Collector (1965)The Brood (1979)You Were Never Really Here (2017)The Hitcher (1986)I Stand Alone (1999)Lady Snowblood (1973)Greed (1924)Funny Games (1997)The Purity of Vengeance (2018)The Panic in Needle Park (1971)Sharp Objects (2018)Fatma (2021)Drunken Angel (1948)The Nightingale (2018)Pagan Peak (2019)Prisoners (2013)Chained (2012)Galveston (2018)Blue Ruin (2014)13 Tzameti (2006)Three... Extremes (2004)The Virgin Spring (1960)Wake in Fright (1971)Possession (1981)Memories of Murder (2003)Suicide Club (2001)May (2003)Ivy (2015)Pieta (2012)
Quick answers from GoodWatch data.
The Penalty is included with a subscription to FlixFling and IndieFlix in the United States. You can watch it free with ads on JustWatch TV, Kanopy, and Plex. You can also rent or buy it from FlixFling. All links in Where to Watch go to these licensed services.
Mostly. It's well received, with a GoodWatch score of 78/100 (IMDb 7.3 and Rotten Tomatoes 83%). The GoodWatch score combines critic and audience ratings.
It's rated NR in the United States. Content advisories: violence and disturbing imagery.
1 h 30 min
The Penalty runs 1 h 30 min.
Not quite. Critics rate The Penalty higher (83) than audiences (75). It may be more rewarding than it is crowd-pleasing.
It was made in English, with some xx. Produced in United States.
+125GoodWatch finds legal streaming, rental, or purchase options for The Penalty in 139 countries. Pick any of them in Where to Watch to see the local services.
TV Tropes lists 23 storytelling tropes for The Penalty, including Dating Catwoman, Career Versus Man, Harmful Healing.
7.3
