The Water Diviner 2014

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: It's clear that Russell Crowe has poured his heart and soul into the historical romance The Water Diviner, his first feature as a director. If only the film were better. Read more

Sara Stewart, New York Post: Crowe makes the most of his own quiet presence, and this ode to the world's never-recovered soldiers and their families is a fitting meditation on the insanity of war. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: As a director, Mr. Crowe's camera meanders all over the place; as an actor, he mumbles and growls his way through the carnage like it was nothing more important than a re-make of Gladiator, filmed on old sets from Gene Autry westerns. Read more

Daniel D'Addario, TIME Magazine: Crowe needs, badly, a director to push back against his default mode: The script for The Water Diviner posits that Joshua Connor is the most interesting man in the frame at all times, but Crowe's performance doesn't earn that. Read more

Eddie Cockrell, Variety: An often capriciously mixed cocktail of war film and cross-cultural family melodrama, "The Water Diviner" marks an ambitious if emotionally manipulative directing debut for Russell Crowe. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: Its emotional thrust ... is made limp by indiscriminate direction and the kind of quantity-over-quality mindset that invites tacked-on romances and dream sequences that play like dream-sequence parodies. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: The movie is beautifully shot and Crowe is adept at filming war action and the camaraderie that forms even among former enemies. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: It suggests nothing so much as a movie version of a book-club novel that has yet to be written. That doesn't have to be an insult, and it isn't. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Some formulaic elements creep into the story but it's anchored by the grim realities of the first modern war and a sweeping humanism reminiscent of Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Assuming you buy that a noble man of the earth can use his divining skills to locate loved ones in the muddy remains of war, there's plenty else that stretches credibility in Crowe's film. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: A sloggy, heartfelt piece of quasi-magical realist storytelling. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: The film feels purposeful and true. Good job, mate. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: There's at least one better film on the topic - Gallipoli - but The Water Diviner has its moments, even if its grasp of reality is all wet. Read more

Megan Lehmann, Hollywood Reporter: Making his directorial debut with the brawny and big-hearted Australian war drama The Water Diviner, Russell Crowe taps a deep well of symbolism, cultural empathy and good old-fashioned storytelling. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: "The Water Diviner" just wants to tell an old-fashioned war story, but it might have picked the wrong war. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Even slightly self-censored, its images of broken cities and the walking wounded is a strong restating of the film's message: There is no such thing as a "good" war. There's only war - sometimes necessary, sometimes not. And always inhuman. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Despite the incongruous romance and abrupt action beats, Crowe gives a likable, sympathetic performance. But it all starts to dry up before our eyes. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: You don't have to be a historian to wonder about the timing of the opening or a critic to regret that Mr. Crowe has signed onto a preposterous, would-be sweeping historical romance that's far too slight and silly to carry the weight of real history. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: After toiling for the likes of Ridley Scott, Ron Howard, and Peter Weir all these years, Crowe takes command of his own camera crews and castmates, mounting an ambitious and sentimental period drama. Read more

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: Indeed, this is the 51-year-old Crowe's first time as a movie director, but he's hardly a novice actor stepping behind the camera for some sort of vanity project. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Crowe strives to strike a universal chord about the futility of war. Simplistic? Maybe. But in crafting a film about the pain a parent feels after losing a child in battle, Crowe transcends borders and politics. Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: The feature directorial debut of Russell Crowe, who also stars, it tells a compelling tale of loss and reconciliation, and does so with evenhanded sympathy for the adversaries on both sides of the conflict. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Crowe is not messing around here, not trying to dream up opportunities to throw himself another close-up. He's a genuine director. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: While the film is not in masterpiece territory, Crowe's aims are stirring, his point of view is confident, and his directing skill with his co-stars is firm. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Crowe is effectively restrained in his acting, but in his debut as a director, he overdoes the manipulative music and the pretty images from cinematographer Andrew Lesnie. Read more

Brad Wheeler, Globe and Mail: Water seeks its own level and Crowe, while in over his head, will find his audience. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The awfulness and futility of war are seared onto the screen, in images that are often hard to look at. Read more

Inkoo Kang, TheWrap: Seen through Crowe's beauty-seeking if exoticizing camera, the Turkey-set period epic asks difficult and urgent questions about war and masculinity Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: Russell Crowe shows his squishy side as the director-star of this soft-hearted war melodrama. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: While the war story aims for epic turf, the love story settles for manipulation. Read more

Rob Staeger, Village Voice: Russell Crowe proves to be a proficient director in need of better material with The Water Diviner, an adaptation of Andrew Anastasios and Dr. Meaghan Wilson-Anastasios's inspired-by-true-events novel. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: "The Water Diviner" begins to feel less organic than catered from an ordering menu of movie cliches. Read more