Review Revue: Critics React To Eminem & Rihanna’s “Love The Way You Lie” Video

Robbie Daw | August 6, 2010 11:11 am

Dominic Monaghan and Megan Fox fight, Rihanna broods and Eminem burns in the emotionally-charged “Love The Way You Lie” music video. So we were curious to find out just what the Internet thought of the Joseph Kahn-directed clip, which revolves around an unhealthy, abusive relationship (and doesn’t shy away from visual depictions of the violence stemming from it). Head below to see if critics were feeling the fire.

:: Entertainment Weekly‘s Music Mix notes that “Love The Way You Lie” is “a great track, and a star-powered video.” However, they go on to ponder, “…does it take responsibility for its dramatization of domestic violence? And knowing all we know about Rihanna’s personal life (and Em’s), is this collision of reality and fame-world cleansing or just awkward?”

:: MTV News points out that actor Dominic Monaghan recently said, “I think we tried as hard as we could to not glorify the violence, to try and explain that this was a relationship that is by no means ideal and a relationship that probably should have ended a lot sooner than it did.”

:: New York‘s Vulture quips, “Turns out instead of being the Rihanna video about domestic abuse, it’s actually an Eminem video about super-attractive people looking super-attractive! We might be able to ginny up some outrage if we weren’t so totally hypnotized by just how nice Fox, Monaghan, Eminem, and RiRi look when filmed in sepia tones, in front of burning houses.”

:: The Hollywood Reporter‘s Heat Vision blog jokes, “Okay, so maybe having this Eminem-Rihanna video on Heat Vision is stretch but what can we say? We like Dominic Monaghan, who was in Lost, Lord of the Rings and Wolverine. Oh, yeah, it’s got some girl called Megan Fox in it, too.”

:: HitFix feels “Love The Way You Lie” is more the Eminem Show, and questions Rihanna’s involvement: “She stands close to the burning house (in hot pants, no less), but doesn’t catch on fire, like Em does. Did she set the fire? Is she going back in the house? Is this any commentary whatsoever on her own relationship with Brown or is she only a voice aiding the story of Eminem’s own unhealthy relationship?”

:: Taking a different approach, The Prophet Blog praises the man behind the lens by writing, “It’s not the best video ever made, but it’s very appropriate for the song, and Kahn deserves a pat on the back for the beautiful style and visual effects used. He’s a fantastic director, and whenever you see his name attached to something, you at least know that it’s not gonna suck.”

:: New York Daily News feels that “Love The Way You Lie” isn’t “as flashy as Kanye West’s ‘Power’,” but goes on to say “what the Joseph Kahn-directed clip lacks in artsy flair it makes up for in straightforward, brutal imagery.”

:: Wall Street Journal blog Speakeasy declares, “The age of the event video is clearly not completely over… Everything about the new video seemed better fit for the big screen than the TV screen, from the star appearances by Fox and Monaghan, to the dramatic sequences of domestic violence.”

:: Finally, Hecklerspray takes the comedic approach with a visual decoding of Fox and Monaghan’s scenes from the video. Says the site, “Incidentally, if anyone was wondering where Eminem is while this nightmare is playing out, he’s in a field. Again, he’s in a field.”