In the decades since its release, retrospective critical reception has been very positive, with reviewers praising the album as a middle ground between the band's work as Joy Division and their subsequent alternative dance material.

[1] After the suicide of Joy Division's singer Ian Curtis in May 1980, and the subsequent shock for those surrounding him, remaining members Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, and Stephen Morris elected to carry on, albeit under a new name – New Order.

The interim solution was that all three members took turns at singing before finally deciding that Bernard Sumner should take the main vocalist's role with Peter Hook as back-up (though he sang lead on "Dreams Never End" and "Doubts Even Here").

The introduction in October 1980 of Gillian Gilbert, Stephen Morris's girlfriend, lightened the burden on Sumner who had to play guitar and keyboards and sing (something he found impossible to do simultaneously) and enabled the band to pursue a more electronic approach.

Hannett was in a legal dispute with Factory Records and suffering from substance and alcohol abuse, and the band members—themselves still coming to terms with having to write and arrange songs without Curtis's ear and lyric-writing ability—found him uncooperative.

Released in November 1981—just weeks after the Joy Division retrospective/live double album Still—Movement was met with a tepid reception, with critics disappointed by what was perceived to be a lack of forward momentum after the "Ceremony" single.