Formosa Betrayed 2010

Stephen Holden, New York Times: The film is partly a tutorial on the tense relations among Taiwan (the island of Formosa), the Chinese mainland and the United States, and partly a clumsy cloak-and-dagger political thriller. Read more

John Anderson, Wall Street Journal: The movie is a sturdy entry in the paranoid-thriller genre, and raises some interesting issues about our relationship with the country we used to call China. Read more

Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times: It's a passionate labor of love that pointedly criticizes the U.S. government's failure to recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation, independent of mainland China. Read more

Janice Page, Boston Globe: As a political thriller, Formosa Betrayed has enough suspense and intrigue to pull viewers along willingly. It doesn't try too hard, which is refreshing. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Obviously heartfelt but somewhat stilted and disjointed. Read more

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times: A mostly pedestrian political thriller whose basis in true events adds little to the film's excitement or entertainment value. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Only viewers wondering if James Van Der Beek has finally outgrown "Dawson's Creek" will be at all satisfied by this dreadful police procedural that contains good history lessons and bad TV-cop-show drama. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Mostly, Formosa Betrayed seems a tedious excuse for lengthy tirades against Chiang Kai-shek delivered by the film's producer and co-writer, Will Tiao, who less than convincingly plays a Taiwanese activist. Read more

Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer: Formosa Betrayed, a ho-hum college history lecture about modern Taiwan awkwardly disguised as a political thriller, has its heart almost in the right place. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Formosa Betrayed begins rather awkwardly, but ends by making a statement that explains a great many things. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: This is an unabashedly pro-democracy message movie. Judged strictly as drama, it's pretty routine. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The sturdy political thriller Formosa Betrayed is laudable for adding the voice of native Formosans to the usual two-sided debate that reaches the American media. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Formosa Betrayed is a history lesson dressed up as an action movie. The lesson is pretty interesting; the movie is just the far-fetched plot it hangs on. Read more

Aaron Hillis, Time Out: All the heartfelt references to the 228 Massacre and the White Terror don't make this any more thrilling than a Wikipedia entry. Read more

Nicolas Rapold, Village Voice: Neither the investigation nor the suspense (hobbled by editorializing) have much impact; the movie, necessarily shot in Thailand, plays like secret-history tourism. Read more

Jen Chaney, Washington Post: A movie that shows us the desperation and danger of living under martial law in Taiwan during the early '80s, yet somehow never delivers the emotional gut punch the subject matter deserves. Read more