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Statement, The
Sony Pictures Classics


4.0

based on 32 reviews
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based on 2 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for violence

Starring Michael Caine, Tilda Swinton, Charlotte Rampling, Alan Bates, Jeremy Northam, Ciarán Hinds, John Neville, Matt Craven, and Edward Petherbridge

At the end of World War II, many of those involved were prosecuted for war crimes. Some got away. Until now. (Sony Pictures Classics)

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Ronald Harwood Brian Moore (novel)
DIRECTED BY:	Norman Jewison
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: April 27, 2004 Video: April 27, 2004 Theatrical: December 12, 2003
RUNNING TIME:	120 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Canada / France

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...

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Has the hallmarks of a top-notch Jewison production -- splendid performances, especially from leads Michael Caine, Tilda Swinton and Jeremy Northam, a pulse-quickening pace and production values that establish story and character within a distinct environment.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

There's a sensational, highly original performance by Swinton.

Philadelphia Inquirer Howard Shapiro

Partly because of Caine and partly because of meticulous work by veteran director Norman Jewison, The Statement is a fiction done so effectively, it rings true -- even slick lines that may otherwise be rancid.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

The resulting political thriller is more intriguing than riveting, flattened by Jewison's plodding direction and distracting use of British actors to play French characters.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Never comes together as a persuasive whole. Instead of moral complexity, we get an overfamiliar pursuit tale and investigation story. Worse, the movie fails the first test of a thriller: It lacks any significant suspense.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

The Statement is an older man's film, and compassion is one of its strengths; Jewison and Caine make us feel pity and terror for the victims as well.

Premiere Peter Debruge

As a thriller, The Statement is relatively disappointing, but as a moral study, the movie proves far more promising.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Not quite a thriller and not quite a character study, though with elements of both, the film is limited by its ambiguous relation to history.

Empire Olly Richards

Positioned as a tense political thriller, Jewison's film is high on the (somewhat confusing) politics but falls a little short on the thrills.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

The film seems more an excuse to attack a target than an exercise in solid storytelling.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Tedious "message movie" proves hunting war criminals amid right-wing Catholic conspirators can be plenty dull.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

As depicted here, the political story becomes convoluted and dramatically inert.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

I don't require that a movie have a message, but in a message movie it is helpful to know what the message is.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

In Jewison's hands, this cat-and-mouse game plays like third-rate John Le Carré, treading lethargically over high-minded intrigue that mixes fact, fiction, and unlikely speculation in dubious relation to the historical record.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Jewison dodges the issues in the script by Ronald Harwood (The Pianist) to focus on cat-and-mouse chases that kill interest.

USA Today Mike Clark

For a story that centers on intrigue in high places, the few even halfway-grabbing scenes come from the mild if unexplored sexual tension between co-Caine sleuthers Tilda Swinton and Jeremy Northam.

Variety Scott Foundas

Lackluster pic fails both as suspense and as character study.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Seems tailor-made for an intelligent thriller in the Graham Greene mode, but in Jewison's hands, the dragnet that closes in on Brossard is lackadaisical, and the larger political overtones--especially concerning the complicity of the Catholic church in aiding Nazis--are spelled out over and over.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

Ends up second-guessing its own high-minded strivings, not trustful enough of its audience to be sophisticated about history and ethics, and not pulpy enough to keep us awake.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

A tolerable thriller.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Caine puts all his formidable talent into pulling this off, but Jewison's directing and Roland Harwood's screenplay (based on Brian Moore's novel) provide a regrettably shaky foundation for him to build on.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

As much as these wonderful actors invest their performances with psychological nuance, their efforts go mostly for naught in a movie that gives character development a distant back seat to the grinding mechanics of its formulaic plot.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Films can't just sound good on paper; they have to be effective on the screen, and in that form, The Statement is disappointing.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Overripe dialogue and a fevered score fail to inject any real tension, and the accentless English spoken throughout a film set entirely in France is ludicrous and jarring.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

If any actor could reveal the squirmy soul of a war criminal, it's Caine, so it feels like a cheat when The Statement gives him nothing to portray but self-condemnation.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Norman Jewison's honorable but stodgy exercise in ethical outrage, based on Brian Moore's acclaimed 1996 novel, fairly aches to be called a thinking man's thriller.

Film Threat Mark Sells

The film makes an honest effort to present this story as intelligent and thought provoking, but ultimately falls flat because it doesn’t provide enough reasons to care.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Brit actors can't even be bothered to speak with French accents.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Never gels into the smart, tightly orchestrated cat-and-mouse game that it promises to be.

Austin Chronicle Steve Davis

By the time The Statement comes to its inevitable conclusion, you'll be hard pressed to remember much about it, sadly enough. In other words, The Statement doesn't make much of one.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

A stiff, clunky piece of work that never builds up urgency or tension. The script, by playwright Ronald Harwood, who wrote the script for Roman Polanski's "The Pianist," is close to atrocious.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Harwood's screenplay obscures any sort of philosophical, religious, or historical considerations in favor of pulpy and faith-bruising sensationalism.

The average user rating for this movie is 4.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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Statement, The Sony Pictures Classics

Statement, The
Sony Pictures Classics