For Greater Glory: The True Story of Cristiada 2012

Stephen Holden, New York Times: The jamming together of so much history and melodrama makes for a handsome movie that is only rarely gripping. Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: It's a powerful, visually elegant picture from first-time director Dean Wright. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: In spite of its R rating and sometimes horrifying imagery, For Greater Glory seems to belong in the classroom of a lazy Sunday-school teacher rather than a movie theater. Read more

Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic: Director Dean Wright and screenwriter Michael Love fail to develop compelling characters or to construct a coherent plot. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: The scenes just plod along without much to help distinguish them. It's not an epic movie so much as an epic run-on sentence. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: As generic as the title, this historical drama spares no cliche in depicting Mexico's Cristero War of the late 1920. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: The result is pretty much as forgettable as the Cristeros War. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: It's the stuff of real life, and of high drama, but Dean Wright's directorial debut translates little of that latter quality to the screen. Read more

Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter: This historical drama about the little-known Cristero War in 1920s Mexico is more educational than involving. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: Ultimately a stodgy, overblown and repetitive slog. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: When its passion connects with several strong performances, it transcends a heavy piousness. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: The sometimes painfully sincere and slow-moving "For Greater Glory" clearly aspires to be inspirational, but history won't cooperate. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It is well-made, yes, but has such pro-Catholic tunnel vision I began to question its view of events. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: It is a scattered mess, as earnest as a folk song, but like a folk song that goes on for two hours and 23 minutes. Read more

Tom Horgen, Minneapolis Star Tribune: If Michael Bay woke up one day and said to himself, "I need to make a movie about religious persecution in 1920s Mexico," I imagine it would look something like this. Read more

Sam Adams, Time Out: This drama styles itself as a cinematic epic, but its substance is as flimsy as a Jack Chick pamphlet. Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: Despite enough good intentions to pave a four-lane highway, the ardently sincere but dramatically unfocused For Greater Glory plays like a multipart miniseries that has been hacked down to feature length. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: It is plodding, lazily filmed, gassy with James Horner's score, and pads its runtime only by way of tolling repetition. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: "For Greater Glory" is at times so heavy-handed that the movie itself seems at war. Unfortunately, the enemy is not just a repressive administration, but the audience. Read more