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Four Feathers, The

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 13 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): War
Written by:
Michael Schiffer
Hossein Amini
A.E.W. Mason (novel)
Directed by: Shekhar Kapur
Release Date:
Theatrical: September 20, 2002
DVD: February 18, 2003
Running Time: 127 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for intense battle sequences, disturbing images, violence and some sensuality
Starring Heath Ledger, Wes Bentley, Kate Hudson, Djimon Hounsou, Michael Sheen, Laila Rouass, Rupert Penry-Jones, and Alex Jennings
A gripping adventure of epic proportions, this is a story of heroic redemption, undying loyalty and rivalry in love. A sweeping saga that captures a friend's bond and a hero's destiny, The Four Feathers is a look at man's indomitable spirit to survive. (Miramax)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Elizabeth Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
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...
New York Post Lou Lumenick
Splendidly spectacular, intelligent and very well-acted.
Read Full Review >New Times (L.A.) Gregory Weinkauf
Has a lot to offer as grand entertainment, from surprising battle sequences (plenty of terror, virtually no gore, brief and tasteful digital enhancement) to fine performances.
The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Ledger is a charismatic, conflicted hero who internalizes his character's shame and anguish to powerful effect. Wes Bentley is similarly strong as Ledger's best friend turned romantic rival, and Kapur makes the most of Africa's breathtaking desert, crafting a gorgeous spectacle that's at once stately and hyper-real.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The Four Feathers ends on the same dubious note as "Black Hawk Down" and other recent war movies, suggesting that loyalty in the trenches -- not the reason for fighting in the first place -- is all that matters. Many will disagree.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
At its best, this new film does mix grandeur with skepticism, excitement with reflection. In the end, like Harry, it redeems itself.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
When a filmmaker heavy-handedly imposes his contemporary values on a classic of popular art, it's devilishly hard not to destroy or invalidate the very thing that made it a classic.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Ultimately, The Four Feathers is strong where its predecessors were weak (in the authenticity of combat) and weak where they were strong (in the larger-than-life quality of the characters). It's not a good exchange.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
What The Four Feathers lacks is genuine sweep or feeling or even a character worth caring about.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Kapur’s contradictory feelings about his material result in a movie that works against itself. As righteous and consistent as his anger may be -- it’s displayed from the opening title cards to the final shot -- it doesn’t blend successfully with the story.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
A tighter version of the same story might have captured and held my interest, but this one had the proceedings wandering like the riderless camels in the desert.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
It's a pretty compelling yarn, not to mention full of pretty pictures, and yet it could be so much more than that.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
The film's opening and closing moments are weirdly reminiscent of "Black Hawk Down," another tale of Western soldiers in over their heads on the dark continent -- clearly no one these days understands manifest destiny.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
It may be an accidental historical parallel that, at times, we seem to be watching a 19th-century version of ''The John Walker Lindh Story,'' but the fluke is only enhanced by the weird anonymity of Ledger's performance.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
Kapur's stodgy style halts the momentum of young actors who have impressed in other movies.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Its virtues can't outweigh the disappointment of a movie that might have been a rousing old-fashioned epic, or better yet a provocative reworking of an old epic, and instead became a muddle.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Steve Simels
The film's center will not hold. Either crucial scenes were cut (perhaps for length) or Kapur has a problematic sense of narrative structure; sometimes it's unclear who's doing what to whom.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Still as moth-eaten as a Bengal tiger rug on the floor of a London men's club.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
All these intriguing good intentions, however, have largely gone for naught because of a variety of missteps, starting with an increasing implausible plot as well as the fact that Ledger's Harry looks about as likely to pass for an Arab as the Mahdi is to pass for Queen Victoria.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
What a featherweight epic this is, the kind of uniformed period piece where the watchword is pretty. Pretty costumes, pretty soldiers, pretty battles; pretty silly.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
It should have been an old-fashioned rouser, and sometimes it is. The great cinematographer Robert Richardson (JFK) lights the battle scenes like action paintings. But Kapur weighs down the tale with bogus profundities.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Offers too small a dose of the blood-and-sand adventure you expect from this sort of big-budget Hollywood remake. As it is, it borders on The English Patient's on again-off again heroics, minus Anthony Minghella's patient skill in eliciting romantic suspense.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
Feels both tiresomely old-fashioned and disturbingly topical.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
The movie's deeper problem and its primary disappointment: its unwillingness to deal directly with the issue of colonialism.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan
Works as pure escapist entertainment, but it's on the cusp of being smarter -- making it all the more frustrating.
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
It looks good, it moves quickly and it is often a jolly good time. As mindless swashbuckling in a well-designed production, it can't be faulted. The less you know about the British Empire and human nature, the more you will like it, but then that can be said of so many movies.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
The good news is that it sees what a jihad looks like from both sides. The bad news is that it's not a very good movie, with three fine performances and two great sequences.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker Anthony Lane
Illogical and glum. [30 Sept 2002, p. 145]
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Because this Four Feathers is an utter botch, it might make savvy viewers feel that the subject matter is hopeless.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
There is no one to become attached to in The Four Feathers, no interest or sympathies appealed to or engaged.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
Such few assets aren't enough to alleviate the film's shallowness.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Charles Taylor
Hoary epic of British Empire valor and cowardice, remade for seventh time, remains rot, old boy.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
chiwawa K. gave it a10:
A beautifull movie.
Mike A. gave it a 1:
Condescending at best. Terrible acting. It's almost too much to expect for Hollywood to produce a serious movie on a serious subject.
Distortedpetals gave it an 8:
Overall, renters liked this movie very much. This movie had a lot of layers and was not made for those with A.D.H.D. It is a real sit down-pay attention feature. However, It is well worth the watch.
Jugster Jam gave it a 9:
Movie is worth your time, money, and your brain. This a classic like lawrence of arabia. There are no parts in the movie where you can point out weak acting. The movie is shot beautifully and looks very sharp on DVD. The story offers everything and leaves out nothing.
Rose D. gave it a 9:
Good movie. The acting was good. Very exciting.
Eric S. gave it a 4:
I was looking forward to "The Four Feathers" for months, but was very disappointed at the final result. I'll admit the film looks great, and that the battle scene in the middle was spectacular. What a movie this could have been had the rest of it been like that one scene. Kate Hudson is sinfully underused.
