A Mighty Heart 2007

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: The overriding tone of A Mighty Heart is neither indignant nor sentimental: The film is consistently cool. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: A worthy film on a great, tragic subject. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: A Mighty Heart is clipped, blunt, and grimly realistic. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: The immediacy of the setting, heightened by documentary techniques, makes this a chastening film, a portrait of the explosive new world in which we live. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Though it's difficult to watch, the film is nonetheless inspiring: a portrait of strength and character, through unimaginable difficulty, responding not with hatred but with hope. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The sheer force of the story, fueled by the commitment and passion of Winterbottom and his cast, counts for a lot. And in a season of superheroes, sequels and special effects, a smart movie for smart people is always welcome. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Jolie is such an expressive actress that there's always a danger she'll overplay the part, but one major misstep aside, she slips into Winterbottom's wide-ranging procedural and asserts herself only when dramatically necessary. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: The only drama comes in the waiting, which eventually becomes tiresome. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The problem with structuring A Mighty Heart as a suspense film is obvious: We already know the outcome. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Both moving and frighteningly real. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: This docudrama manages to be gripping even though the outcome is no mystery. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: A movie that captures the frustration of not knowing, the unconsummated urge to comprehend. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: On so many levels, A Mighty Heart is almost as excruciating to write about as it is to watch. It has many of the virtues of a first-rate political thriller, and yet who can think of it in those terms? Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Director Michael Winterbottom's film of Mariane Pearl's book constantly reaches for the authentic with subtle tenacity. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Should end up one of the year's best dramas, an intricate, jolting look at life out of control and one woman's fight to hold onto her dignity and love in the midst of unimaginable tragedy. It's not an easy story to watch. Imagine living it. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: The twisting of narrative perspective that pushes the missing man's wife so insistently into the foreground makes A Mighty Heart a mighty challenge. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: A movie as rich in detail as it is in emotion, with both driven deeper by the intensely intimate filmmaking style of Michael Winterbottom. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: He [Winterbottom] approaches his subjects as very, very real, not just fodder for topical films. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: An enormously moving document of the tense days between Pearl's capture and the news that he was dead. Read more

Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: Shooting in what often appears to be available light, and with a handheld camera that he has tamed sufficiently to prevent motion sickness, Winterbottom keeps the picture moving along like a thriller. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: For a big chunk in the middle it feels like a standard crime drama -- though it's a strikingly crafted and stirring one. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Angelina Jolie's intelligently tucked-in performance as Mariane avoids grandstanding, receding instead into the intricate tapestry of Michael Winterbottom's tense and authentically relayed film. Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: Winterbottom's aversion to sentimentality doesn't mean you won't be moved by A Mighty Heart. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: The movie, directed by Michael Winterbottom, lies about as far from the trials of Lara Croft as is cinematically possible. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: [Winterbottom] puts us in the middle of things, and lets us watch. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: Knowing how this harrowing story played out in real life doesn't diminish its power in the slightest. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Though the events recalled in Winterbottom's riveting docudrama A Mighty Heart are well-known, they are dramatized with such realistic detail and heartfelt passion that the story feels as urgent as the latest bad news out of the Middle East. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: [Jolie is] greatly abetted by the no-nonsense, very un-Hollywood-ish approach that British director Michael Winterbottom takes to this fact-based thriller. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: All too often, the point of the story collapses under the weight of [director Winterbottom's] political priorities. He's a prolific Don Quixote, committed to tilting cinematic windmills, but he goes about the job clumsily. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Jolie lets us understand Mariane, and Winterbottom's film puts the viewer in her shoes. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: To experience the grief of a death, one must know something of the life, no? That's the assumption of a movie like Silkwood. It is not assumed in A Mighty Heart, which tells us precious little about Mariane and Danny Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Despite its curiously stoic tone, A Mighty Heart retains its capacity to fascinate and intrigue Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: What is best about A Mighty Heart is that it doesn't reduce the Daniel Pearl story to a plot, but elevates it to a tragedy. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: A straightforward, highly competent thriller. As you'd expect from English director Michael Winterbottom, the picture possesses levels of moral complication that are at first invisible; it feels like an extra-long episode of 24. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: Much of A Mighty Heart plays like a documentary. It feels truthful instead of puffed up to be more commercial. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Angelina Jolie IS Mariane Pearl -- and that marquee-size "is" gets in the way, not of her performance, but of our ability to suspend disbelief and watch it. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Winterbottom's gritty sensibility and feel for geopolitical realities is perfect for the film. There's no room for Hollywood gloss - and no need for it. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: The film takes its cue from the widow, neither sermonizing or even villainizing, content to serve quietly as an admirable exercise in restraint and a moving example of the grace under pressure that is the essence of courage. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Honesty and courage are the main virtues of A Mighty Heart, which strives to shed light on dark times. Central to it is Jolie's laudable performance. Read more

Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: This movie does not fully separate itself from our admittedly low -- even slightly shameful -- expectations, does not become the pure documentary it might perhaps better have been. Read more

Ben Kenigsberg, Time Out: Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Emotionally and viscerally compelling and retains a suspenseful, edge-of-the-seat quality. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: The sad saga of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl has made it to the bigscreen with facts, figures and beating heart intact in A Mighty Heart. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: There's hardly a moment when Jolie is on-screen that you can't sense the presence of make-up artists and hair stylists hovering anxiously just off frame. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: A taut, meticulously crafted police procedural. Part thriller, part melodrama, A Mighty Heart recalls last year's United 93 in its technical prowess and artistry, and in its harrowing emotional arc. Read more