62
Metascore
32 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerChristian Science MonitorPeter RainerPhilip Noyce's anti-apartheid drama is tense and thoughtful, if somewhat marred by Hollywood-style thrills.
- 75Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumWith the same affinity for stories of culture clash he showed in "The Quiet American" and "Rabbit-Proof Fence," director Phillip Noyce embraces the tale with gusto.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterComparisons to "Hotel Rwanda" make sense up to a point - both feature heroes who have the scales removed from their eyes - but "Fire" is no tearjerker, and here the story of Chamusso's conversion serves mainly as prologue to the main plot, a history-tinted cat-and-mouse policier in which he will attempt to finish the job he was wrongly accused of starting.
- 67Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAustin ChronicleMarc SavlovIt's always odd to see Robbins, a political activist in his own right, playing at villainy, but here he descends into the role so thoroughly that the lopsided smile becomes less a notation of cockeyed boyishness than a treacherous Cheshire smirk.
- 60VarietyTodd McCarthyVarietyTodd McCarthyStories of resistance to oppression will never become obsolete, but this feels like a picture that should have been made a long time ago.
- 60L.A. WeeklyElla TaylorL.A. WeeklyElla TaylorThe less rosy message of Catch a Fire is that aggression breeds aggression.
- 50Village VoiceVillage VoiceIn the end, Catch a Fire plays like some weird hybrid on the crazy-quilt filmography of Phillip Noyce, which includes small productions made in his native Australia and the Sharon Stone sexcapade "Sliver." What it's definitely not is the standard-issue movie about apartheid; there's no white protagonist, no pale-faced hero riding in on his high horse to save the oppressed black man.
- 50Chicago TribuneChicago TribuneThe horrors of apartheid deserve a better treatment than this.
- 50Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonDirector Phillip Noyce has made a serious movie that switches to almost popcorn entertainment.
- 50The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisIt’s a film that wants to play as if it were ripped from today’s headlines, but has been shredded into near incoherence.