Criticality has always been highly valued in academic literature review but seems to be overlooked in cross-language studies. This current study adopted the attitude polarity taxonomy and the graduation system in Martin’s appraisal theory to compare the critical attitude in Chinese and English academic literature reviews excerpted from 30 Chinese SSCI articles and 30 English CSSCI articles. Results showed that the frequency of negative attitude in English literature review is significantly higher than that in Chinese and also English utilizes much more down toners, especially in the form of verbs and modal verbs, to present author’s cautious but objective authorial stance. The potential factors underlying these differences in criticality are also discussed in depth.