Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom 2013

Kyle Smith, New York Post: The film is a useful look at important history, and in the second half it grows intriguingly tangled. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: At almost 6 feet 3 inches, [Elba is] too big for physical similitude, but big enough in dramatic presence to measure up to his character's courage and moral stature. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: You keep wishing, as "Mandela" plays out, that this were more than one movie. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: For all its failings, there is one thing about "Long Walk to Freedom" that can't be denied: Idris Elba gives a towering performance, a Mandela for the ages. Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: The very qualities that make the man such a revered figure-his selfless devotion to change, his unfailing moral rectitude-also make him a pretty dull subject for a movie. Read more

Barbara VanDenburgh, Arizona Republic: Elba has long been better than the film roles he's been offered, a tradition that continues with his leading role here. Read more

Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press: Elba has so inhabited the character that you might be stunned to see photos of the real man, during credits, and realize the extensive physical differences. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Aside from some youthful randiness early in the film, it wouldn't be out of place at a state funeral. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: Nelson Mandela gets the Classics Illustrated treatment with this handsome, undemanding biopic. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Maybe Mandela is one of those historical figures whose life is greater, more larger-than-life, than any mere movie could ever do justice to. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: The life of Nelson Mandela is simply too big, too complex and too important to be contained in one movie. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: Elba may not look...like the South African leader, but his sheer presence makes you believe he is channeling him. Still, [it] falls frustratingly short as a cinematic experience, trying to cram too much of Mandela's colorful life into too little time. Read more

Jordan Hoffman, Film.com: He spent 28 years in prison and this is what he gets? Read more

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: The restrained intensity of Idris Elba's performance as Nelson Mandela ennobles this ambitiously sprawling biopic. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Though it's a story we've heard so often that we perhaps take it for granted, seeing all the events of this remarkable journey laid out for us in a two-hour and 21-minute feature underlines its not-to-be-believed qualities. Read more

Tony Hicks, San Jose Mercury News: Superior acting aside, "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" feels like a film you watch because you should, not because you want to. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: There's so much crammed into this 139-minute movie that it often leaps from one event to the next too swiftly to make much of an emotional impact. Read more

Mark Jenkins, NPR: Mostly ... the movie is designed for people who already know some history of South Africa from 1942 to 1994, or who don't much care. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: [A] vibrant, engaging film adapted from Mandela's 2000 autobiography. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Mr. Elba is completely convincing as a natural leader with a ferocious drive. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: A conventional biopic made anything but conventional by the magnitude of its subject's life and accomplishments, and by Idris Elba's imposing performance in the title role. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: In those moments when Elba shows the doubts, compromises and complications that make the man, we get glimpses of a life truly lived. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Even those familiar with the history will be impressed and moved to see these events as Mandela experienced them, before the Nobel Prize and universal adulation recast the past in a glow of inevitability. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: [A] conventional, high-minded, rather pedestrian movie ... Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: This movie begs to be compared to epics such as "Reds" and "Gandhi." But while Elba embodies a dignified hero, the film itself is less than revolutionary. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Unfortunately, this reverent and old-fashioned biopic is a prime example of the kind of inspirational movie that is, itself, uninspired. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: There will one day surely be a great film about Nelson Mandela, one that shows the man in all of his glory as both revolutionary and peacemaker. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom isn't that film. Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: As a primer, it's respectable; as cinema, it feels like a biblical gospel, always gearing up for the next big speech or moment, yet shackled by the greatness of its subject. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: A biopic that is more dutiful than illuminating. Read more

Michelle Orange, Village Voice: Elba ... inhabits a role that was designed to be worn. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom does a worthy job of honoring both its subject and its audience. Read more