 Although he praised the "beautifully choreographed and shot" action sequences, Murray criticized Flame & Citron for "lean [ing] toward the handsome and thoughtful when it could stand to be a lot dirtier and more visceral", citing Black Book as a "superb counter-example". Stempel declared that it "is not as exciting as" Black Book, "but Verhoeven was dealing with people having to make complex moral decisions instantaneously. Flame & Citron takes its time to turn the screws on its characters, and us." Ella Taylor argued in favor of Flame & Citron, saying it "is the film that the horribly overrated Black Book could have been, had Paul Verhoeven not indulged in the puerile reversals of sensitive Nazis and treacherous partisans." Fuchs also compared the moral dilemmas the characters have to deal with to Black Book and Steven Spielberg's Munich but said Flame & Citron does not have "the splendid surrealish excess" and "the weird conflation of maternal bodies and motherlands" of the two films, respectively. Gleiberman could "feel the shadow of Steven Spielberg's Munich hovering over Flame & Citron".
