Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

58 (Untitled)
96 35 Shots of Rum
56 Adam
72 Adela
39 Adventures of Power
78 Afghan Star
61 After the Storm
66 Afterschool
xx All the Best
58 American Casino
72 Amreeka
48 Antichrist
73 Araya
62 Art & Copy
55 As Seen Through These Eyes
76 Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86 Beaches of Agnes, The
13 Beautiful Life, A
70 Beeswax
35 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71 Big Fan
66 Black Dynamite
51 Blind Date
xx Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76 Bliss
35 Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26 Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57 Boys Are Back, The
45 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81 Bright Star
70 Bronson
45 Burning Plain, The
xx Carriers
55 Casi Divas
57 Chelsea on the Rocks
62 Cloud 9
65 Coco Before Chanel
69 Cold Souls
59 Collapse
44 Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82 Cove, The
75 Crude
82 Damned United, The
67 Departures
xx Dil Bole Hadippa
71 Disgrace
xx Do Knot Disturb
70 Earth Days
24 Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85 Education, An
55 Endgame
xx Eulogy for a Vampire
xx Everyone Else
xx Fatal Promises
56 Fifty Dead Men Walking
62 Five Minutes of Heaven
74 Flame & Citron
49 Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80 Food, Inc.
28 Free Style
xx From Mexico with Love
50 Fuel
25 Gentlemen Broncos
50 Give Me Your Hand
58 Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72 Good Hair
89 Goodbye Solo
52 Grace
66 Harmony and Me
81 Headless Woman, The
xx Heretics, The
63 Horse Boy, The
73 House of the Devil, The
xx How to Seduce Difficult Women
74 Humpday
94 Hurt Locker, The
29 I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16 If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75 In Search of Beethoven
83 In the Loop
61 Intimate Enemies
42 Irene in Time
70 It Might Get Loud
46 Killing Kasztner
19 Labor Day
xx Laila's Birthday
41 Little Ashes
41 Little Traitor, The
66 Liverpool
34 Looking for Palladin
80 Lorna's Silence
83 Maid, The
xx Ministers, The
59 More Than a Game
67 Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34 Motherhood
62 My One and Only
xx Mystery Team
48 New York, I Love You
73 Night and Day
66 No Impact Man
47 Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34 Other Man, The
xx Painter Sam Francis, The
54 Paper Heart
xx Paradise
68 Paranormal Activity
68 Paris
44 Peter and Vandy
35 Play the Game
77 Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx Pretty Ugly People
65 Providence Effect, The
76 Rembrandt's J'accuse
69 September Issue, The
79 Serious Man, A
40 Shrink
61 Skin
77 Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx Skiptracers
46 Splinterheads
39 St. Trinian's
89 Still Walking
50 Stoning of Soraya M., The
55 Storm
65 Tetro
70 That Evening Sun
72 Thirst
xx Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61 Trucker
xx Turning Green
83 U2 3D
66 Unmade Beds
66 Unmistaken Child
70 Visual Acoustics
55 Walt & El Grupo
67 Way We Get By, The
69 We Live in Public
64 Wedding Song, The
64 Where is Where?
xx White on Rice
74 Woman in Berlin, A
69 World's Greatest Dad
70 Yes Men Fix the World
69 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx You, the Living

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Blood Diamond

EMAILPRINTWarner Bros. Pictures

Blood Diamond reviews
64
8.5 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 39 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 217 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Adventure  |  Drama  |  Suspense/Thriller

Written by: Charles Leavitt (also story)
C. Gaby Mitchell (story)

Directed by: Edward Zwick

Release Date:
Theatrical: December 8, 2006
DVD: March 20, 2007

Running Time: 143 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: R for strong violence and language

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, Djimon Hounsou, Michael Sheen, Arnold Vosloo, Basil Wallace, Ntare Mwine, Caruso Kuypers, and David Harewood

Set against the backdrop of the chaos and civil war that enveloped 1990s Sierra Leone, Blood Diamond is the story of Danny Archer (DiCaprio), an ex-mercenary from Zimbabwe, and Solomon Vandy (Hounsou), a Mende fisherman. Both men are African, but their histories and their circumstances are as different as any can be until their fates become joined in a common quest to recover a rare pink diamond, the kind of stone that can transform a life... or end it. (Warner Bros.)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

The New Yorker David Denby

Essentially a romantic adventure story with politics in the background--an old-fashioned movie, I suppose, but exciting and stunningly well made.

Read Full Review >
90

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Action-adventure pictures have a lamentable tendency toward mindlessness, but Edward Zwick's epic story has numerous virtues apart from suspense and spectacle.

Read Full Review >
88

Premiere Glenn Kenny

Not that Diamond skimps on the social commentary; far from it. But it makes its points without too much breast-beating, caching its polemic within a tough-minded entertainment.

Read Full Review >
88

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

A visually sumptuous, bullet-train-paced thriller with a really provocative theme.

Read Full Review >
88

USA Today Claudia Puig

Blood Diamond is a gem in a season with lots of worthy movies.

Read Full Review >
83

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Zwick's narrative skills keep us hooked on the story, and the first-rate production values and imaginative use of locations (it was shot in Mozambique) give the film an enthralling scope and epic sweep.

Read Full Review >
83

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

As strong as Blood Diamond is in its best moments, I wish it had been even harder-edged. DiCaprio is remarkable - his work is almost on par with his performance this year in "The Departed."

Read Full Review >
83

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

There are times when his message threatens to overwhelm his story line, and the last 15 minutes or so of Blood Diamond demonstrate what happens when sentimentality wins out over style and grit.

Read Full Review >
80

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

For its flaws, Blood Diamond is a gem, if only for being an unusually smart, engaged popcorn flick.

Read Full Review >
80

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Given that the movie doesn't have a single narrative surprise--you always know where it's going and why, commercially speaking, it's going there--it's amazing how good Blood Diamond is. I guess that's the surprise.

Read Full Review >
80

Empire Damon Wise

Great performances, provocative ideas and gripping action scenes fall prey to Hollywood logic and pat storytelling in the final hour.

Read Full Review >
75

ReelViews James Berardinelli

It's a solid performance from Leonardo DiCaprio, who has grown into this sort of "gritty" role and is more believable after having been seen dancing on the dark side in "The Departed."

Read Full Review >
75

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Blood Diamond is, in the vernacular of Old Hollywood, a rip-roaring adventure, the kind made in the '30s with Clark Gable and the handiest leading lady on contract at MGM.

Read Full Review >
70

Slate Dana Stevens

Blood Diamond is a by-the-numbers message picture, to be sure...But the director, Edward Zwick, is craftsman enough that the pace never slackens, the chase scenes thrill, and the battle scenes sicken. And if it makes viewers think twice about buying their sweethearts that hard-won hunk of ice for Christmas, so much the better.

Read Full Review >
70

Newsweek David Ansen

Blood Diamond only skims the surface of many important subjects--the script doesn't begin to explain what the civil war was about. But if it opens a few eyes, it will have done its job.

Read Full Review >
70

Time Richard Corliss/Richard Schickel

DiCaprio, here as in "The Departed," proves himself the most watchful and watchable actor of his age. Since his teens, he has known how to make moral dilemmas seem both profound and sexy, and at 32 he just keeps getting better.

Read Full Review >
70

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

There's no use griping about the superfluous white-on-white romance that generates so much dead space in Zwick's movie, for without it Blood Diamond would never have been made. Which would be a pity, for as liberal hand-wringing goes, it's a winner.

Read Full Review >
70

The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden

To the unlikely role of a Bogart-esque reluctant hero, Leonardo DiCaprio brings an intensity that compels even when the script falters.

Read Full Review >
70

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Blood Diamond attempts to be an action thriller with serious political overtones, to be as much position paper as "Zulu Dawn."

Read Full Review >
63

Boston Globe Ty Burr

As an entry in the advocacy-entertainment genre, in which glamorous movie stars bring our attention to the plight of the less fortunate, Blood Diamond is superior to 2003's ridiculous "Beyond Borders" while looking strident and obvious next to last year's "The Constant Gardener."

Read Full Review >
63

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

It's earnest, but it feels beside the point. Blood Diamond's real point: box office.

Read Full Review >
63

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Edward Zwick brings unimpeachable good intentions to his film about the bloody underbelly of the international diamond trade, but when social conscience jockeys for attention with movie-star glamour, glamour always wins. The result is a rip-snorting adventure set against the backdrop of African misery.

Read Full Review >
63

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

There's an extraordinary subplot in Blood Diamond, sandwiched between a main story meant to arouse outrage and a Hollywood-clumsy finale meant to provoke a standing ovation.

Read Full Review >
63

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

The combination of DiCaprio's soulful, self-effacing work in Scorsese's "The Departed," and this unexpectedly complex portrait in a simple-minded movie, make it the best year of his career since the big boat crash of 1997.

Read Full Review >
60

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

It's a reasonably entertaining actioner, and Zwick doesn't shy away from depicting violence or the horrors of war, but as a social statement it falls a little short. And emeralds are prettier anyway.

Read Full Review >
60

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Preachy infotainment that wants to offer thrills, too -- an uneasy hybrid.

Read Full Review >
60

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Thanks to the redundancy, though, Blood Diamond is dramatically diffuse, and at least 30 minutes too long. Thanks to Mr. DiCaprio's raffishly dashing soldier of fortune, the movie is worth watching all the same.

60

Variety Brian Lowry

Africa's enduring sorrow is ripe for drama, but Blood Diamond is, finally, a fitting metaphor for the gems: Potentially brilliant from a distance, but upon closer inspection, one likely will see the flaws.

Read Full Review >
58

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

There is every reason to learn about the link between jewels and death, by all means, but no reason to try to disguise a term paper as entertainment.

Read Full Review >
50

Village Voice Nathan Lee

De Beers can relax; the only indignation stirred up by Blood Diamond won't be among those who worry about where their jewelry came from, but with audiences incensed by facile politics and bad storytelling.

Read Full Review >
50

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

While the film never quite reaches the emotional peaks it so obviously seeks to scale, Zwick's film is still potent enough to save you three months salary.

Read Full Review >
50

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

While Mr. DiCaprio turns out to be an ideal fit for Blood Diamond, there's an insolvable disconnect between this serious story and the frivolous way it has been told. There is no reason to doubt the filmmakers' sincerity; only their filmmaking.

Read Full Review >
50

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Much like Zwick's "Glory" and "The Last Samurai," Blood Diamond strives to be an "important" film while stopping well short of being genuinely provocative and artistically chancy.

Read Full Review >
50

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It's part action film, part buddy movie, part love story, part political tract and, in sum, much less: a meandering, preachy, condescending mess that only occasionally bursts into life and even then at such a tepid level that you can hardly call it living.

Read Full Review >
50

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

The one attraction in the picture is DiCaprio's performance: easy yet strong, confident, humorous.

Read Full Review >
50

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

It's like watching "The Treasure of Sierra Madre" as remade by "Nightline."

Read Full Review >
50

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

DiCaprio is terrific, but he can't save this lecture from the shame of using Africa as a vehicle for another white man's redemption.

Read Full Review >
38

New York Post Kyle Smith

DiCaprio and Connelly give off the sexual tension of pickled herring.

Read Full Review >
25

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Director Edward Zwick tried to make a great movie, but somewhere in the process he forgot to make a good one.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 217 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

D S. gave it an8:
Good performances by DiCaprio and Hounsou. A little long in length, but well directed. Good movie!

Mindy A. gave it a10:
Leonardo DiCaprio is great in this movie. He is such a versatile actor.

Greg A. gave it an8:
A 4 star film by any account. Gripping and fast paced. Di Caprio is a legend.

[Anonymous] gave it a9:
Strong and just as dramatic as Edward Zwick's The Last Samurai. Now The Last Samurai is a better movie (one of my favorites) but Blood Diamond is only a hairsbreath away from that. I think you'll love it.

Jack B. gave it a9:
I had this DVD unopened on my shelf for months, i just watched it and WOW, i was gripped. Ive been impressed by very few films recently but Blood Diamond was superb. Perhaps a dodgy accent by De Caprio but he's really matured into a fantastic actor. Great supporting cast too. The storyline is excellent, the scenery breathtaking and nothing is overdone. Certainly deserves the plaudits it received and i would recommend it to any one out there like myself with a passion for film. The film itself has made me more aware of the problems in Africa, something i will certainly be looking into more in the near future.

Nina A. gave it a10:
Loved it. Leo was totally gripping..

Lei Z. gave it a10:
Possibly one of the greatest movies of 06. Keeps you on the edge of your seat, and it really makes you think about what you watch - not a norm in most action films. The civil war in Africa - all real. Conflict diamonds - that's real too. And what's worse, the brainwashing of children to become soldiers, absolutely real. I must say, Leonardo's role as a South African was so convincing I almost forgot he was American.

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use