Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian thought Blindness was "a drum-tight drama, with superb, hallucinatory, images of urban collapse." He praised the movie's balance between horror and humor, calling it "bold, masterly, film-making."Blindness Review (May 15, 2008)

Variety's Justin Chang wrote in his review that despite Julianne Moore's "strong performance," Blindness "rarely achieves the visceral force, tragic scope and human resonance" of the novel it is based on.Variety: Blindness Review (May 14, 2008)

Blindness was re-edited after the film festivals, in the hopes of garnering more favorable reviews.The Canadian Press: Canadian audiences get retooled version of... (September 12, 2008) Even so, critics Roger Ebert and Lisa Schwarzbaum wrote negative reviews of the film, criticizing the "music-video-like pizzazz" and "aggressive" soundtrack that seemed to detract from storytelling.Roger Ebert: Blindness Review (October 2, 2008) Entertainment Weekly: Blindness Review (September 24, 2008)

A.O. Scott of The New York Times, however, still thought Blindness was worth seeing, since it was "full of examples of what good filmmaking looks like."The New York Times: Blindness Review (October 3, 2008)