Soul Power
Metascore
76 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 22
  3. Negative: 0 out of 22
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  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    75
    What's infectious in Soul Power is the almost shocking optimism of its America-meets-Africa '70s world-beat vibe.
  2. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    50
    As the record of a cultural event, Soul Power is a hit-and-miss affair.
  3. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    80
    Anyone awed by 1996's "When We Were Kings" - and really, that should be anyone who's seen it - will consider this vivid companion piece essential viewing.
  4. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    90
    A vibrant and joyous new documentary.
  5. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    80
    Period pieces can be marvelous or musty, depending on the period, as well as the piece. Soul Power is marvelous.
  6. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    63
    The concert footage is mesmerizing; the planning leading up to the show is pedestrian.
  7. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    75
    The idea is to share with us that this show happened. But gluttons for these artists and for music festivals in general might wonder, as I have, whether there's any way the filmmakers might share more of the remaining 123 1/2 hours.
  8. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    75
    It's best seen as a breezy entertainment and a reminder of how potent some of these performers -- many of whom are dead -- were in their primes.
  9. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    83
    Levy-Hinte has said that a great deal more concert footage exists. I can't wait for the expanded version DVD.
  10. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: A.O. Scott
    90
    Soul Power, as aptly and succinctly titled a movie as I have ever seen, takes you to a place where the discipline that produces great popular art is indistinguishable from the ecstasy that art creates.
  11. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    90
    Explodes in a burst of energy, musical chops and an eerie political prescience that makes it feel like something beamed from some past-is-future time warp.
  12. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Nathan Rabin
    83
    James Brown, B.B. King, and a dazzling array of top African, Afro-Cuban, and African-American talent finally gets its own solo spotlight in Soul Power.
  13. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Chris Kaltenbach
    63
    For a documentary about a music festival, Soul Power doesn't include nearly enough music.
  14. St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    Reviewed by: Joe Williams
    88
    Soul Power is both a funk-tastic time capsule and a timeless celebration of the human spirit.
  15. Variety
    Reviewed by: Eddie Cockrell
    70
    Joyously funky documentary.
  16. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Neil Young
    60
    While there's an awful lot to like about this infectious celebration of a remarkable event featuring some superb, larger-than-life performers at the top of their game, the enterprise comes across as a bit of a missed opportunity.
  17. NPR
    Reviewed by: Mark Jenkins
    65
    Delightfully, Kinshasa's streets are alive with music, and snippets of sidewalk performances are integrated into the movie. The musicians are unidentified, alas, but then after 35 years, the filmmakers probably don't know who they are.
  18. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Dan DeLuca
    100
    Explosively exciting film.
  19. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: James Adams
    75
    Pretty much a non-stop head-bobbing knee-bouncer.
  20. Empire
    Reviewed by: Philip Wilding
    80
    A real treat for fans of Ali and music alike.
  21. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Thomas Fawcett
    67
    Artfully stitched together sans narration, Soul Power stands alongside "Wattstax" as a critical concert film of the Black Power era.
  22. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Ernest Hardy
    70
    Takes too long to get to the meat of its matter, but captivates once it does.

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