Sacrifice
Metascore
57 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 11 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
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  1. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Maggie Lee
    Jan 12, 2011
    90
    Chen's direction is his most staid yet, but the riveting story speaks for itself.
  2. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    Jul 25, 2012
    88
    In Sacrifice, about a father who loses his son to the power of the state, it is difficult to miss the parallels with Chen's own life.
  3. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: David Lewis
    Jul 26, 2012
    75
    Ultimately, the film works because the doctor's relationship with the general - and both of their relationships with the doctor's young boy - is just as complicated as the action-packed coup.
  4. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Sam Adams
    Jul 25, 2012
    75
    Chen can't seem to decide whether he's making a fable or something more down-to-earth, but Sacrifice works either way, if not both at once.
  5. Variety
    Reviewed by: Leslie Felperin
    Jul 23, 2012
    70
    Sacrifice is practically a chamber piece, and duly draws its strength from its performances, especially those of Ge and Wang.
  6. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Bill Weber
    Jul 23, 2012
    63
    A historical melodrama that retains an ancient, elemental pull even as it insufficiently charts motivation and the self-denying values of antiquity.
  7. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Mark Olsen
    Jul 27, 2012
    50
    Sacrifice is mostly a melodrama concerned with deception, betrayal and just what makes a family. It is handsomely done and well-acted, but it lacks real energy or purpose.
  8. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Jeannette Catsoulis
    Jul 26, 2012
    50
    It's tough to care about characters who spend most of their lives obsessing over the violent deaths of others.
  9. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Mark Feeney
    Jul 26, 2012
    50
    Sacrifice wants to have it both ways. It's willing neither to give itself up to the goofy sincerity of genre conventions nor to make the demands on viewers that serious drama requires. The sacrifices Chen's characters make would signify that much more if he'd made a sacrifice or two himself.
  10. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Nick Schager
    Jul 24, 2012
    40
    Chen's attention to character over spectacle pays minimal dividends and is compounded by the fact that his battles - full of standard-issue slow motion and hacked-off limbs - are as dull as an overused blade.
  11. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: David Fear
    Jul 24, 2012
    40
    The Fifth Generation filmmaker has aced such recipes before (e.g. The Emperor and the Assassin); this time, both the spectacular and the human elements have apparently been offered to the gods.

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User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 1 out of 1
  1. equinoxia
    2
    i believe that fully 60% of all chinese movies are what they call "sweeping dramas" or "epic dramas." why is that? it all gets to be a bit much sometimes, don't you think? i wish they would stop taking themselves so seriously...lighten up, for god's sake. which pretty much is the sum total of my feelings on this movie. that, and i'm a Bigbig Fan of Bingbing Fan.… Full Review »