The 33 2015

Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press: The 33 is well-meaning, well-crafted and faithful to the source material, but ultimately it feels disappointingly formulaic. Read more

Sara Stewart, New York Post: It's never a good sign when the real people behind a movie's story appear in the end credits and you're stumped as to who's who. Read more

John Anderson, TIME Magazine: The world may have seen the outcome, but it's still convincing, a story of courage without platitudes, and it features one of Antonio Banderas' best performances in years. Read more

Scott Tobias, Variety: Winds up looking less like a sober docudrama than a ginned-up Irwin Allen disaster movie. Read more

Benjamin Mercer, AV Club: Stalled in management mode for much of its duration, Riggen's film nonetheless has its solid elements, one of them being Banderas' energetic lead performance. Read more

Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic: Massaging the facts to pump up the drama is a necessary evil in a film like this, but "The 33's" cinematic beats are so familiar that they undercut the sense of realism that would make it more compelling. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: "The 33" is a grind. Literally; lots of drilling that is as exciting as a root canal. That, plus sentimentality and platitudes - even Banderas has a hard time with lines like "That's the heart of the mountain. She finally broke." Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: This watchable, straightforward drama recounts the 2010 disaster at the San Jose mine in Chile, which trapped 33 men underground for 69 days and focused the world's attention on the exploitation of miners (for 69 days, anyway). Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: What these men endured is remarkable, and the logistics of the rescue are remarkable as well. "The 33" settles for an unremarkable chronicle of that endurance test. Read more

Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly: You may never go down to your basement again without a headlamp and a 10-day food supply. Read more

Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter: Director Patricia Riggen finds a rigorous and affecting visual language for The 33, but she and her international cast are hampered by a screenplay that too often gets in the way of a powerful story. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: A compelling but too-tidy dramatization of a remarkable rescue event. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It's hard to think of another movie this year that has a stronger message about hope -- or a gentler one about forgiveness. Read more

Allen Salkin, New York Daily News: Even when it seems the story may be winding up, new and fascinating facets of this narrative jewel are revealed, giving the audience a one-sitting feast, which still has its place in our rich media diets. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: With the help of some solid performances and James Horner's heart-squeezing, throat-constricting score (one of the last he composed before his death in June), "The 33" holds your attention and pushes the required buttons. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: In trying to breathe life into too many characters, the screenplay transforms them all into thinly-drawn caricatures. In focusing on its feel-good, inspirational ending, it fails to make nearly 2 hours of hardship a worthwhile experience. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: You forgive the movie its faults, or most of them, because its heart is firmly in the right place. Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: The outcome of the episode is known - all were rescued after 69 days underground while a rapt world watched on TV - but director Patricia Riggen keeps the tension high with those omnipresent sonic cues. Read more

David Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle: This material is probably more suited for a TV miniseries. There is a lot of ground to cover here: 33 miners, lots of family members, a host of government officials and the media-sensation disaster itself. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Who knew disasters could be so enjoyable? Way to go, triumph of the human spirit! Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Disappointingly formulaic. Read more

Eva Salinas, Globe and Mail: The strength of those miners and the unlikely hope of their families, was utterly captivating. Their survival moved me deeply then and, with The 33, it still does now. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: A tangled and pedestrian narrative gets in the way of the thrills, which are still considerable. Read more

Tasha Robinson, TheWrap: Setbacks and fights arrive on cue and prompt new inspirational speeches. The whole film becomes as mechanical as the oversized drills in play at the rescue site. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: If we could unearth these guys from their living tomb, how hard is it to find nonwhite actors to play real people? ... Miner story, major fail. Read more

Liz Braun, Toronto Sun: The 33 is not a failure. It's a crowd-pleasing, sentimental, middle-of-the-road venture suitable for any audience. And that's a pity, because the subject matter cries out for a much more muscular treatment. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: The picture stumbles, and it may not completely be the fault of the filmmakers. Unless you drastically alter the details of real life, they don't always translate meaningfully to the screen. Read more

Mark Jenkins, Washington Post: The inspirational docudrama nicely evokes the havoc of the initial cave-in, but spends too much time above ground to convey the existential horror of the almost-buried men. Read more