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Catch a Fire
Focus Features / Universal Studios


6.8

based on 32 reviews
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How did we calculate this?

based on 12 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for thematic material involving torture and abuse, violence and brief language

Starring Tim Robbins, Derek Luke, Bonnie Mbuli, Mncedisi Shabangu, Tumisho Masha, Sithembiso Khumalo, Terry Pheto, and Michele Burgers

Powerfully telling the story of a South African hero's journey to freedom, Catch a Fire is a political thriller that takes place during the country's turbulent and divided times in the early 1980s, and in the new South Africa of today. (Focus Features)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Shawn Slovo
DIRECTED BY:	Phillip Noyce
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 30, 2007 Theatrical: October 27, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	101 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	UK / South Africa / USA
LANGUAGE(S):	Afrikaans / Zulu / English

Formerly known as "Hotstuff"

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...

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Philip Noyce's anti-apartheid drama is tense and thoughtful, if somewhat marred by Hollywood-style thrills.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Both a condemnation of torture as a political tool and a tribute to the bravery that exists within everyone.

Newsweek David Ansen

Luke has real movie-star power. He's enormously sympathetic, but this moving, well-crafted movie, written by Shawn Slovo, mercifully doesn't turn him into a plaster saint.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Catch a Fire paints the period with a double-sided brush that gives yesterday its due and puts today on notice.

Premiere Ethan Alter

Right off the bat, Catch a Fire distinguishes itself from other recent international productions about Africa (including The Constant Gardener and The Last King of Scotland) in that it is actually told from an African perspective.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

This deeply moving and disturbing film derives power from being based on the true story of a black South African who does everything possible, no matter how degrading, to get by within an immoral system, but becomes radicalized almost despite himself.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Luke, who seems to have been marking time since his impressive debut in the title role of Denzel Washington's "Antwone Fisher" four years ago, is fiercely good as this reluctant warrior and devoted family man.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

With 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.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Catch a Fire isn't edgy like some of Noyce's previous titles nor is it a big-budget endeavor with A-list stars. Instead, it's a simple and sincere tale of inspiration.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Fire shows what happens when a government systematically denies rights to one racial group for decades, but its message is more current.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Screenwriter Shawn Slovo -- whose white parents were anti-apartheid activists in South Africa -- ends his finely tuned screenplay on a note not of violence and anger but of forgiveness. It's a breathtaking coda that reminds us of that undeniable human beauty: the ability to survive, to fight for right -- and then move peacefully on.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Luke, who had the title role in Denzel Washington's directorial debut, "Antwone Fisher," is that rare actor who can convey profound inner conflict with just a look in his eye; his performance is attuned, astute and remarkable.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The movie belongs to Luke, who brings the heroic Chamusso to life as richly as Forest Whitaker does the evil Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland."

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

The young American actor (Derek Luke) gives such an intense, passionate performance as South African Patrick Chamusso that he just about dares you not to be involved with the tale he is telling.

Wall Street Journal Joanne Kaufman

An affecting story of punishment and crime, of betrayal and redemption marred by preachiness and a treacly ending, Catch a Fire is notable for its refusal to see things in terms of black and white.

The Hollywood Reporter John DeFore

Comparisons 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.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

The movie is flawed and doesn't completely come off as a convincing biography, but its heart is in the right place, it has moments of poignancy and power, and it makes a pleasant change of pace for a genre that essentially has become a cry of despair.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

It'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.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Whatever you make of the film's politics, Luke makes a vivid impression in his most substantial role since "Antwone Fisher," and Robbins resists the temptation to make the thinly written Vos a villainous caricature.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Luke gives a powerful performance -- with his looks and talent, he should be a much bigger star -- but Robbins is the one you'll remember. Fixed with the faraway look of a doomed man who knows the center cannot hold, he gazes fearfully toward a future he knows is coming and can do nothing to stop.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

In Catch a Fire Noyce has caught the holy spirit. The movie is a thriller that wants to lift you up.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Though preachy at times, Catch a Fire is a well-constructed action thriller elevated by Luke's performance.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

The less rosy message of Catch a Fire is that aggression breeds aggression.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Stories of resistance to oppression will never become obsolete, but this feels like a picture that should have been made a long time ago.

Empire Helen O'Hara

An intelligent thriller that effectively conveys the message that terrorism, even in apartheid-era South Africa, is rarely a black-and-white issue.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Catch a Fire just doesn't spark.

Chicago Tribune Jessica Reaves

The horrors of apartheid deserve a better treatment than this.

Village Voice Robert Wilonsky

In 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.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Director Phillip Noyce has made a serious movie that switches to almost popcorn entertainment.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

It’s a film that wants to play as if it were ripped from today’s headlines, but has been shredded into near incoherence.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

The problem with Tim Robbins' dreadful turn as a South African "anti-terrorist" official in Catch A Fire--and it was also a problem with his sniveling Bill Gates impersonation in "Antitrust"--is that he can't hide his distaste for his own character.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The film never strays much beyond the obvious, despite a conscientious effort by Tim Robbins to humanize a white security officer.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 12 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jason E. gave it a6:
Despite its obvious well-meaning humanistic intentions, "Catch a Fire" remains mired in genre trafficking despite its ambitions to convey the power of self-realization. By repeatedly flushing the screen with the hopeful, joyous chantings/dances of the saintly natives he overshadows the smaller personal story of one man's triumphs over his own mild-mannered acquience to the injustices that plague his nation. Robbins adds a stern introspection that adds slight dynamicism to this otherwise didactic tale.

Chad S. gave it an8:
When Patrick Chamusso (Derek Luke) reaches ANC headquarters, it'll become crystal clear as to why "Catch a Fire" does the story of apartheid some justice. We meet Joe Slovo (Malcolm Purkey), leader of the South African Communist Party, who easily could've been the male protagonist in another film. Thankfully, the filmmaker didn't Alan Parker this baby, and allowed a black man to tell the story of his own reduction. To make allowance for this box office-killing gambit, unfortunately, there's an action scene that seems phoned in from another movie, seemingly, as some sort of cockamamie compromise to give apartheid some sizzle. If you're going to use bombast, use it to honor the memory of the dead, not some flick starring Harrison Ford in full sweat-mode. When depicting the violence that pervaded apartheid, "Catch a Fire" lacks that one defining moment in which we see and feel the monstrous evil of this government-sanctioned racism. It's okay for Patrick to be a bigamist, and Nic Vos (Tim Robbins) to be a good family man (we want complexity in our characters), but apartheid itself should be painted in broader strokes. It pulls back on the blood, which prevents the audience from a few hours of rabble-rousing after leaving the cineplex. In "Mississippi Burning", the ugliness of slavery becomes all-too-visceral when some klansman kicks a young boy in the face. "Catch a Fire" lacks such a moment.

richard haber gave it a9:
Powerful and moving. An important historical film.

Timid Times gave it a7:
A great movie for Tim Robbins to star in and another great movie about the history of Africa. However its no classic like "Cry Freedom" or "Hotel Rwanda". It seems to be looking for the blockbuster getters instead of focusing on the real issues at hand. It's an airbrushed ride through the case of a man. With a PG13 rating and a foggy stardom, it seems only to create havoc for many audience members. But I enjoyed it and I think many people will too. Too bad it flopped in the box office.

Eddy G. gave it a10:
Extremely powerful movie. Excellent.

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Catch a Fire Focus Features / Universal Studios

Catch a Fire
Focus Features / Universal Studios