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Letters from Iwo Jima
Warner Bros. Pictures


8.1

based on 37 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 158 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for graphic war violence

Starring Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Shido Nakamura, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase, Yuki Matsuzaki, Hiroshi Watanabe, and Takumi Bando

In this companion piece to "Flags of Our Fathers," Clint Eastwood presents the untold story of the Japanese soldiers and their general who 61 years ago defended against the invading American forces on the island of Iwo Jima. (Warner Bros.)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| War
WRITTEN BY:	Iris Yamashita (also story) Paul Haggis (story) Tadamichi Kuribayashi (book Picture Letters from Commander in Chief) Tsuyoko Yoshido (book editor)
DIRECTED BY:	Clint Eastwood
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 22, 2007 Theatrical: December 20, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	141 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA
LANGUAGE(S):	Japanese (with English subtitles)

Received 4 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Named 2006's best film by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Board of Review. Also known as "Red Sun, Black Sand."

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

Newsweek David Ansen

It's unprecedented, a sorrowful and savagely beautiful elegy that can stand in the company of the greatest antiwar movies.

100

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Clint Eastwood's profound, magisterial, and gripping companion piece to his ambitious meditation on wartime image and reality, "Flags of Our Fathers."

100

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Eastwood's direction here is a thing of beauty, blending the ferocity of the classic films of Akira Kurosawa (Seven Samurai) with the delicacy and unblinking gaze of Yasujiro Ozu (Tokyo Story).

100

The New York Times A.O. Scott

A few scenes serve as hinges joining this movie to "Flags of Our Fathers." While Letters From Iwo Jima seems to me the more accomplished of the two films -- by which I mean that it strikes me as close to perfect -- the two enrich each other, and together achieve an extraordinary completeness.

100

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Letters From Iwo Jima, takes audiences to a place that would seem unimaginable for an American director. Daring and significant, it presents a picture from life's other side, not only showing what wartime was like for our Japanese adversaries on that island in the Pacific but also actually telling the story in their language. Which turns out to be no small thing.

100

USA Today Claudia Puig

It takes a filmmaker possessed of a rare, almost alchemic, blend of maturity, wisdom and artistic finesse to create such an intimate, moving and spare war film as Clint Eastwood has done in Letters From Iwo Jima.

100

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The view taken by Clint Eastwood, directing from Iris Yamashita's exemplary screenplay, is elegiac, but -- and this is remarkable, given the nature of the production and the sweep of his ambition -- not at all didactic. He lets the film speak for itself, and so it does -- of humanity as well as primitive rage and horror on both sides of the battle.

100

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

"Letters" isn't about numbers or the battle or even the morality of war. It's about the sanctity of life and how we value our own.

100

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Taken together, Eastwood's masterworks - two of the best films of 2006 - may be Hollywood's last word on World War II.

100

Premiere Stephen Saito

Letters from Iwo Jima isn't just the film that Eastwood wanted to make, but one that the film's producer Steven Spielberg had tried to make twice with "Empire of the Sun" and "Saving Private Ryan."

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

The word masterpiece costs nothing to write and means less than nothing in an age when every third picture and each new Clint Eastwood project is proclaimed as such. After two viewings, however, Letters From Iwo Jima strikes me as the peak achievement in Eastwood's hallowed career.

100

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

It has few stars familiar to Americans, and it shares with "Pan's Labyrinth" the rare distinction of being a mainstream commercial movie with subtitles.

100

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Eloquent, bloody, and daringly simple.

100

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

One of the great war movies - or antiwar movies - of all time.

100

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Overall, the effect is presumably what Eastwood wanted: we are present at a momentous event, not watching a movie.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Letters isn't a fun night at the picture show. It's slow and gloomy and achingly tragic. But it's a truly impressive achievement both in moviemaking and in its understanding of history.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Ironically, the challenge of directing a Japanese-language film with a non-English-speaking cast seems to have brought out the very best in Eastwood. His vision is alternately intimate and sweeping, his touch never seemed more light and sure, and several of his scenes are so delicate, dynamic and prototypically Japanese they could have been directed by Akira Kurosawa.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Clint Eastwood's Letters From Iwo Jima is his companion piece to "Flags of Our Fathers" and in almost every way is superior.

Village Voice Scott Foundas

The special power of Eastwood's achievement is that, save for one indelible moment, the mutual recognition between sworn adversaries happens not on-screen, but later, as we piece the two films together in our minds.

Time Richard Corliss/Richard Schickel

Terse is the word for Eastwood's directorial style. It rarely editorializes; it doesn't emote or orate. It just tells the damn story of a soldier's honor, which means doing the job no matter the odds--indeed, no matter the mission.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Now Eastwood turns on a dime and tackles not just his first war movie but two war movies of considerable scope and complexity. If he doesn't nail everything perfectly, he nevertheless has created a vivid memorial to the courage on both sides of this battle and created an awareness in the public consciousness at a most opportune moment about how war feels to those lost in its fog.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Taken together, "Flags" and "Letters" represent a genuinely imposing achievement, one that looks at war unflinchingly -- that does not deny its necessity but above all laments the human loss it entails.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

The humanistic approach makes Eastwood's movie a war story for the ages.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Letters From Iwo Jima, much like any war movie, honors the courage of men who took part in a war not necessarily of their making. But by placing us on the opposite side of the battlefield, the movie forces us to approach it from a fresh perspective.

TV Guide Ken Fox

This is sentimentality of the best kind, a touching display of male bonding amid terror and aching loneliness worthy of Howard Hawks at his finest.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

It's hard to explain exactly why Clint Eastwood's Letters From Iwo Jima is so much better than its companion World War II film "Flags Of Our Fathers," except to say that Flags tries too hard to emphasize the ironies of selling a war, while Letters deals with the ins and outs of the war itself.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

For my money, Flags (however clunky) cuts more deeply, but Letters is more difficult to shake off. Together, they leave you with the feeling that even a just and necessary war is an abomination.

Empire Dan Jolin

A sharper account of the Iwo Jima conflict than Flags, this balances its unflinching handling of the horrors of war with its touching portrayal of those who face them.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

In the last half-hour, the story, like the Japanese, loses its way; lacking any clear-cut goals except survival, the film becomes repetitive. Letters From Iwo Jima is a necessary movie; too bad it's not a great movie.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Far superior to its companion piece, "Flags of Our Fathers," released earlier this year, "Letters" is a grim and humane film that has to be counted among the director's better efforts.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

For all its emphasis on doomed honour and grim death, Letters from Iwo Jima is also sentimental.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Letters from Iwo Jima is a unique American-made war movie for at least two reasons: it depicts the battle from the perspective of the losers and it represents the United States as the "enemy."

The New Yorker David Denby

The project lacks the variety of sensuous pleasures that a great movie has to provide.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Letters covers less emotional ground than its predecessor, because Eastwood and first-time writer Iris Yamashita (who shares a story credit with Paul Haggis) allow Japanese soldiers only three modes of behavior.

Film Threat Rick Kisonak

Portraying the same 1945 confrontation from the vantage point of the Japanese was an inspired idea. Unfortunately, the movie it inspired is something of a letdown.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Even with the great Ken Watanabe lending command and compassion to the role of General Kuribayashi, it's a formless slog across a treacherous field.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Eastwood is so busy humanizing Japanese soldiers that he ends up rewriting history.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 158 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Brandon S. gave it a10:
I am rarely sucked into a movie so emotionally as this. It is supreme in its message as a war film, and you cannot help but feel for the characters as if they were real people. I felt a knot in my throat by the end of the movie. Extremely well done and highly recommended to anyone who is even slightly interested. You really get a feel for the Japanese culture at the time and the struggles and dilemmas these people had to endure.

The Spoiler gave it a4:
I’m so glad I saw this movie. I had been laboring under the misinformation that the battle of Iwo Jima was a ferocious battle between 25,000 Japanese defenders and an enormous Allied invasion fleet committed to taking the island. I had been taught that it was a life-or-death struggle with the Japanese defending an island stepping-stone to their homeland and the Americans fighting to the death knowing that they could never end the war without taking these islands. Thanks to ‘Letters,’ I now know that Iwo Jima was inhabited by what appeared to be a hundred or so lovable, neurotic, Japanese goofballs that spent most of their time running hither and yon avoiding shells and rifle-fire, or being threatened with beheading by a random panoply of over- stimulated and over-acting officers. The Japanese also kept themselves occupied by: being disobedient, hiding, yelling for no apparent reason, picking on each other, changing clothes, having diarrhea, questioning authority, abusing subordinates, countermanding orders, riding horses, drinking American Whiskey, reminiscing about things to boring to reminisce about, and occasionally having to deal with pesky Americans who only show up one or two at a time and seem to be surprised to find Japanese there. Oh, and let’s not forget the lost historic fact that there was a coup d’etat in which the General’s orders were ignored by a subordinate because he said the General was a “weak American sympathizer.” Boy, we could all take a history lesson from this movie…. Things eventually got so boring on Iwo that the commanding officer of the island took a while to have a chat with a wounded Marine, as he was curious as to where the man’s hometown was: thank goodness for all the interpersonal drama or I doubt there would have been much to do. This movie is an insult to the American and Japanese armed forces that fought on that tiny island. One of the most terrific battles ever known in human history took place there, a battle incomprehensible to we modern folk with our spoiled sense of patriotism. To render this historic commitment of life and courage into a weak soap-opera with some whiz-bang for background is reprehensible. That this deplorable mess could come from Clint Eastwood is only slightly more disappointing.

Ryan M. gave it a10:
possibly the best war movie of all time. What is so great about this movie is that it really shows that war is a living hell and it does an amazing job sending out that message. its compainion, Flag of our Fathers, is also pretty good, but letters from Iwo Jima is simply amazing.

Peter A. gave it a10:
War is Hell for anyone in or near it. Letters portrays it from the perspective of several Japanese soldiers based on letters written by them. While fiction, perhaps, in many specific details, the feel is authentic and the cinematography and acting is excellent. Most Japanese soldiers and officers were merciless brutes to their adversaries, their captives, the peoples they subjugated - and often their own people. However some were not. The tragedy of these individuals, trapped in the Japanese military culture and circumstances of their time is well illustrated by this film. I am thankful that the Japanese military culture was defeated. However, for those that condemn all Japanese because of their collective behavior in and before WWII, and can therefore see no merit in this film or any Japanese of the time - consider that in times past - many Americans of European descent treated the naive American indians in similar or worse ways.

Mark B. gave it a10:
This was a well done movie. I rarelly watch subtitled movies; However this movie keeept me spellboud to the end. I wanted to watch it again right away. Thumbs up movie!!!

Leonardo P. gave it a10:
A very good movie that make you stay awake all the time. I 'm very impressed in how Clint Eastwood made this movie so perfectly even when he had to direct various actors speaking other language. The theme song of the movie is very pretty too, congratulations to Kyle Eastwood.

Rohnan c. gave it a10:
So true. for one time, the story not from the north American side where they always have to save the world. A big farce indeed that historic moment for the American where everyone had been long forgotten now. Tragic Japan ! A very very good movie, directed by a very good Clint Eastwood. Not to be missed.

Letters from Iwo Jima Warner Bros. Pictures

Letters from Iwo Jima
Warner Bros. Pictures