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Che
User Score
7.1 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 35 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 35
  3. Negative: 7 out of 35

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  1. PaulS.
    Jan 20, 2009
    2
    I did not pay 15 dollars to see 5 hours of a man trudging through harsh terrain. I get it; his life was hard. I learned little about the man or the history surrounding his life in five hours, which seems like an imposssibility but is true. I was angry with myself for staying in the theater for the whole film, but I kept thinking this movie might get better. This is an apic failure on Soderbergh's part.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. MarianoA.
    Jan 10, 2009
    10
    Outstanding performance by Benicio del Toro (Cannes winner for this one). Great movie, tells you about the Che Guevara´s revolutionary life, the guerrilla fights and the Cuban revolution. I think you have to watch the film first and then comment something about it, ussually the conservators talks crap about any attempt to show the real deal about Che Guevara (objective way, like Soderbergh did ). And this attempt is ambitious and worthy.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. JerryS.
    Jan 20, 2009
    6
    I'm a big fan of both Soderbergh and Del Toro, but this was disappointing. With so much time to work with, only two segments of Che's life are explored, and the lengthy time spent in them leaves you knowing little more about such a cultural icon. It's oddly impersonal and distant. Del Toro gives a fine performance, and some of the cinematography is lovely, but it's wasted on (in my opinion) poor editing and story telling. It's a war film that commits the ultimate crime -- leaving you yawning when you should be engaged and compelled by the characters and action on screen. This is a renter at best, and one best viewed when you can take some breaks from the stilted pace.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  4. JimG
    Jan 24, 2009
    4
    I found this took a fascinating and polarizing figure of history and turned him into sheer boredom.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  5. WC
    Feb 8, 2009
    10
    Excellent film! It's fascinating to watch the ideologues, like those at the New York Post come out of the woodwork to get their digs in...oh well, they wouldn't be the Post if they were objective!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  6. Tyrone
    Apr 27, 2009
    10
    Unparalleled in execution and unbiasedness , a truly un-hollywood picture uncompromising and meticulously realized. there will never be another like it or not .
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  7. MC
    Jan 4, 2009
    10
    Fantastic and inspiring. Captures the idiolistic feelings and hopes of a reveloution in the first part and in the second it tears them apart.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  8. BillyS.
    Feb 1, 2009
    9
    Epic Filmmaking in every sense. Soderbergh has crafted his Godfather for the new century. Amazing in every detail with a brilliant Benicio Del Toro as Che. Don't talk about Oscar snubs for The Dark Knight and WALL-E, nothing for Che is just plain ignorant!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  9. AndyB.
    Feb 12, 2009
    9
    Utterly different to normak Hollywood fare- Engrossing, as it builds towardsa crescendo.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  10. BecquerM
    Feb 20, 2009
    9
    Captivating for Benicio Del Toro’s portrayal of the most romanticized political figure in the world, Stephen Soderbergh’s “Che” will likely be regarded as the pinnacle – or, at least, the standard for many years to come – of biopic movies. Only in the second part (titled “Guerrilla”) do the story and acting fall slightly out of touch with reality; the first part (“The Argentine”) remains superb as Soderbergh intertwines a present interview and black-and-white arrival in the United States narrative (1964) with the past (1955-58) Cuban revolution narrative. He carefully toys simultaneously with the documentary and historical fictional genres in an attempt to demystify the romantic Latin American communist revolutionary, which he achieves. Del Toro’s focus on the niceties of ‘Che’ lend to this demystification: he is pragmatic, humane, moral, has asthma, is a doctor, visionary, well read, intellectual, articulate, idiosyncratic, friendly, and not very good with women (in the relationship sort of way). Many, myself included, questioned Del Toro’s Best Actor win at Cannes last year; however, after watching the movie, I no longer have any doubts. Exceptional in its subtlety and reality, this movie tells the story of a man – who is a worthy synecdoche for the entire Cuban revolutionary movement – who attempts to realize his dream. Fidel Castro, his close confidant and comrade, is played tooth and nail by Demian Bichir, who does a good job of taking note of Castro’s exuberant and long-winded oratorical deftness. The others, who are perhaps closer to Che then Fidel himself, each give nuanced performances. ‘Pombo,’ who appears very often in Che’s diary, is maybe the only one of the bunch that really understands the idiosyncratic revolutionary – a minor touch that lifts the film to new levels. In the end, it does not matter whether you side ideologically with Che (I was dismayed when people in the U.S. actually protested the release of the film). What does matter is whether you are able to notice the little things that make “Che” a milestone in biopic cinematography.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  11. Lizziebeth-1
    Jun 22, 2009
    5
    My taste for this was ruined by 1. Higher (unmet) personal expectations about Che’s actual achievements 2. Nil editorialisation except date/time stamping 3. Nil emotional impact due to the inexorable drive to its fait accompli impoverished ending 4. Tricky structuring of the narrative 5. badly handled subtitling – although I usually like subtitles 6. my tiredness due to its duplicate length (in less than comfortable cinema seating at the Sydney Film Festival). As with Soderbergh’s Full Frontal(2002), which I watched again over the weekedn for comparison, this entry is qutie a-typical of him. The director makes no effort to stamp his creative mark on this bio flick, I don’t think, except that some scenes were incomprehensively shot with a blue filter, possibly as a poor-man’s process (day-for-night). Che Parts 1+2 are intentionally minimalist – my contention being that it’s TOO minimalist, because how do you account for the subject’s infamous, mythic international cultural status borne of nothing but his 1. incorruptability with the peasants, and 2. his grimy beard? Much worse, the audience was just as worn down - in a bad way - from all the grime and violent gun battles as was no doubt Che himself (but even that wasn’t properly brought out). While on an intellectual level I can admire that, it does not a movie make unless there is an emotional connection. But if this overdue film’s very nature is such that audience affect and emotion is deliberately worn away, so all we’re left with is the (blue) footage just flowing in front of our eyes, then what was the point after 50yrs ? Maybe the point is that there wasn’t one. Not even for Soderbergh. I’d even go as far as to say that while at the end Benicio’s Che was, of course, utterly unresponsive to his team’s and his own capture, and to his dream’s complete failure as he was executed, ironically that was the most impactful he had been for me during the whole preceding 4hrs. Now how was THAT worth a film ? Lizziebeth-1, IMDb Sydney, Australia.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  12. BenderA.
    Dec 16, 2008
    10
    The movie tells you about the life of Che Guevara, the guerrilla warrior who made the revolution in Cuba. But this time is the Che´s point of view (it´s based on a book wrote by himself). So you won´t see the typical american movie against Cuba, you´ll see one latin american movie (it´s in spanish) trying to tell Guevara´s revolutionary life in 4 hours (starts when he know Fidel Castro and finish when he dies excecuted). The work of Benicio Del Toro is great, he´s just like che Guevara in person, even with the same accent and look (the best choice for the character). He won the best actor award in Cannes for this performance. Steven Soderbergh made an ambitious film, and he got it right. A little long, but in the rest of the world is splitted in 2 parts. In USA is a 4 hours movie with limited distribution (unfortunally, maybe for the language or the explicit -revolutionary- content of the movie)… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  13. CEP
    Dec 18, 2008
    10
    Great film!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  14. [Anonymous]
    Jan 17, 2009
    10
    'Che' is an amazing journey, and is Soderbergh's masterpiece!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  15. JohnM.
    Dec 17, 2008
    10
    FYI, the TV Guide review you put up is actually for a 1969 movie called "Che!" starring Jack Palance. Thought you might want to fix that.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  16. tonyGreen
    Jan 6, 2012
    7
    This is strangely dull for a biopic of such an interesting historical figure. I didn't hate it. The pace could be described as languid, and it goes on for 5 hours (in two parts on DVD; 'The Argentine', 'Guerilla'). Well shot and has the tinge of authenticity. More edifying than entertaining. I'm glad i watched it but i don't need to watch it again
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Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
64 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 24 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 24
  3. Negative: 2 out of 24
  1. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Peter Brunette
    70
    If this earnest, two-part biopic with a total running time of 268 minutes sometimes lacks cinematic flair, the straight-ahead, chronologically-driven film will inform and, to a somewhat lesser extent, excite viewers everywhere.
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  2. Variety
    Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    60
    If the director has gone out of his way to avoid the usual Hollywood biopic conventions, he has also withheld any suggestion of why the charismatic doctor, fighter, diplomat, diarist and intellectual theorist became and remains such a legendary figure; if anything, Che seems diminished by the way he's portrayed here.
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  3. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: J. Hoberman
    80
    Every Bolivian sequence has its Cuban parallel, which is why Che's two parts are best seen together. Guerrilla may be the more realized of the two--and could certainly stand on its own--but it is only comprehensible in the light of The Argentine. Elevating Guerrilla to tragedy, The Argentine puts some hope in hopelessness--and even in history.
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