SunnyHello Nice effects though.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Kevin Lea Davies Many were shocked when Lance Armstrong (finally) admitted to his use of steroids, which assisted in his 7 Tour Du France wins. Stripped of his titles, dumped by his multi-million dollar sponsorships, banned from all World Anti-Doping Agency governed sports, and literally taken out of the record books for all 7 years he won, most expected him to experience a deep shame and regret over his actions. Most of us, upon revealing our deepest secrets, and the lies that we chose to live, might respond in that way, but Lance Armstrong is a different kind of person, and perhaps doesn't function in the same capacity.Oscar winning documentary film maker Alex Gibney tackles another societal dysfunction, in his attempt to tell the story of why one of sporting world's most famous names, would come out to admit his fraud to the world. It's an absolutely spellbinding story, and doesn't tip-toe around the subject. Rather, it opens up at his most publicly shameful moments, when he told Oprah Winfrey on national television (in yes / no fashion) that he had been cheating the whole time he was winning one of the most grueling competitions in the world. But there is a great deal more to this story, and Gibney delves into some of the bigger problems surrounding the sport, his issues with bullying team mates, the nature of cheating, and most importantly: Why Armstrong acts the way he does. The American Psychiatric Association defines the narcissistic personality as: "In which a person is excessively preoccupied with personal adequacy, power, prestige and/or vanity, mentally unable to see the destructive damage they are causing to themselves and often others." Whenever I think of this personality, a few names come to mind (Donald Trump, and Kanye West are just a few), but I think Lance Armstrong fits this description well. I don't particularly think that he, and others who share these traits, are necessarily terrible people, but it does make them capable of some truly awful actions. It's a remarkable study into this type of personality. Armstrong admits to wrong-doings, but never feels remorse for his actions. It's remarkable how he treats his own teammates throughout his career, and forces us to see him as a very driven man, yet at the same time, one capable of very criminal action. At this time, in 2016, Armstrong faces a 100 million dollar lawsuit brought forth by the federal government for defrauding the U.S. Postal service (the main sponsor during his tours). It's expected to ruin him financially, but many don't expect a decision requiring a full penalty. Perhaps his actions do have consequences, but he's apt not to let that bother him. That being said, Alex Gibney narrates and describes the situation facing him and sport of cycling rather well. I would recommend this documentary to anyone who was interested in Armstrong as a competitor, but also to really let the depth of his actions sink in with the viewer. One of Gibney's best, and more personal documentaries. 8/10

patalbright2 This documentary in some way attempts to apologize for the sordid life of lies the Lance Armstrong used to ruin a one time popular sport.There is little detail in this mockumentry that shows the horrible person, megalomaniac, narcissist and criminal that Armstrong was-and still is. Anyone who tries to blame his criminal actions on 'competitiveness' is sorely misinformed.The only difference between Armstrong and Bernie Madoff is the fact that Bernie took it like a man and put himself in prison for what he did to so many people-who, unfortunately,were just as greedy as he was.Armstrong compiled a 120 million dollar fortune based on lies to everyone and cheated so many out of greed-and nothing else but pure greed. While this video ends at a point that the real story has just began-I hope that it shows people just what a monster greed really is.The video at times seems to go out of it's way to portray Armstrong as a patriot, cancer survivor and boy next door type that got 'caught up' in the sport. Nothing is further from the truth. His zest for riches continues, even today, as he is still blaming everyone for his downfall.As far as presentation the video is quite good and, without a doubt, it is an interesting story of a heathen bent on destroying any one who might revel his lies-all in the name of the mighty dollar.Threading peoples lives daily, blackmail, corruption and the worst of all what he did to America overall. The flag is stained with his lies forever and how he stays out of prison I will never understand.An interesting video that I think most can enjoy, if for nothing else, exposing other greedy criminals like Armstrong-whose ego was so inflated-that he considered himself a solitary la cosa nostra.Today, when so many sports stars are good people, he continues to the blame game.Again, a fine interesting video.

Raven-1969 When everyone cheats, it becomes a different contest. The powerful friends, money (125 million plus), risk and pain tolerance, influential scientists, compelling story, performance enhancing drugs, viciousness, ambition to win at all costs, willingness to bully others, . . . Armstrong has all this and more. The documentary is a powerful and gripping indictment not just of Armstrong and cycling, but of sports and humanity in general. Armstrong's doping is bad, but his abuse of power is worse. The film shows how willing people are to be fooled, or to trample on others. Despite its two-hour length, the film held my interest throughout. There are so many parallels in a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, wherein he writes, "There is something truer and more real, than what we can see with the eyes, and touch with the finger." So too with Armstrong, cycling, sports, and all of us. This brilliant documentary helps bring such truths to the surface.

Tad Pole . . . since the Oscar-winning director of TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE obviously cowers before Lance Armstrong and the Texas Mafia "Code of Omuerta" far more than he feared the U.S. military when he was making his earlier flick. Here's some of the questions Gibney is afraid to ask in THE ARMSTRONG LIE. Though he shows a fawning Barbara Walters saying "You go, boy" while encouraging Lance to destroy the lives of any truth tellers on her show THE VIEW, Gibney doesn't ask why this thoughtless TV maven isn't totally silenced immediately. Though he shows how Armstrong had employees threaten truth tellers in phone answering machine messages with murder-by-baseball-bat (while wishing that those on the side of justice also suffer cancer first), Gibney doesn't ask Armstrong if he signed a formal contract with Satan, or just has an "understanding" with Big Red. (Okay, that might be unfair, because maybe none of Armstrong's Fundamentalist backers actually BELIEVE a word of their professed theology.) Though Gibney clearly shows Armstrong admitted to testosterone, EPO, human growth hormone, and blood transfusion doping in the mid-1990s BEFORE Lance got cancer (or won any important bike races), he never asks Armstrong what the chances are that ingesting this devil's brew CAUSED his cancer in the first place! Many people who do not formally believe in Satan have faith in karma ("what goes around comes around"), but Gibney swallows the canard that Armstrong's Live Wrong Foundation IS doing ACTUAL GOOD on BLIND FAITH, never asking to see the gold standard of science: a "double-blind study" showing that a matched set of cancer patients, including half with Live Wrong contact, actually resulted in BETTER outcomes for the Live Wrong people (common sense and karma may suggest otherwise). Further, Gibney doesn't bother to ask whether Ben Franklin's 200-year-old U.S. Postal Service has been fatally wounded by the fortune lost when its Sponsoree, Armstrong, "went Postal." Finally, Gibney views Armstrong here in a vacuum, never asking him about Texas culture and how he likes his place on America's newest monument, Mount Liemore, right between LBJ (of Kennedy Assassination Cover-up fame) and the Bushes (the Elder's CIA "October Surprise" with the Iran Hostages brought Reagan to power, and the Younger is still fingered by most Americans polled for orchestrating a 9-11 cover-up). Is it a "coincidence" that all four of these Hall of Shamers are Texans? Sorry, Alex, as Jack Nicholson once said, "You just can't handle the truth!" Fortunately, as William Shakespeare wrote earlier, "The Truth will out."