The 11th Hour
Metascore
63 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 30 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 30
  3. Negative: 1 out of 30
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  1. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    91
    Considerably less slick than "An Inconvenient Truth," and no less urgent.
  2. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    88
    The one film to see on this most crucial subject.
  3. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    88
    The word bears repeating, so everyone from Andrew Weil to Stephen Hawking to Mikhail Gorbachev is here to speak the still-inconvenient truth. The filmmaking, however, is far more relentless than in that Oscar-winning Al Gore slide show.
  4. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Judith Lewis
    80
    Ultimately a triumph of redemptive ideas that DiCaprio ­-- God bless his celebrity -- may finally succeed in transporting from the environmental fringe to the mainstream moviegoing audience.
  5. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Crust
    80
    Thankfully for audiences, 11th Hour is not without hope. The filmmakers save the most exhilarating portion for last when they ask what's being done about the problems.
  6. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    80
    An unnerving, surprisingly affecting documentary about our environmental calamity, is such essential viewing.
  7. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Aaron Hillis
    75
    As The 11th Hour's message of Profound Importance warrants a four-star rating, the film itself does not.
  8. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Frank Scheck
    70
    An impassioned ecology-themed documentary that ultimately is more rewarding for informational than cinematic reasons.
  9. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    70
    Arguably a more important movie, which more clearly lays out what must be done to save the world, and how we can begin.
  10. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    70
    It isn’t much of a movie (unless your aesthetic was formed in high-school science class), but it will be hugely informative to aliens who land on this planet in a thousand years and wonder why there’s no welcoming committee.
  11. Variety
    Reviewed by: Justin Chang
    70
    Presents the viewer with reams of depressing data, loads of hand-wringing about the woeful state of humanity and, finally, some altogether fascinating ideas about how to go about solving the climate crisis.
  12. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    70
    Though the filmmaking isn't everything it might have been (the opening montage is especially clumsy), their argument is compelling, absorbing, and urgent.
  13. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    67
    While it's a well-constructed doc, full of relevant information and geared toward those people who still might be fence-sitters on the subject, there's something missing from The 11th Hour's lengthy procession of talking heads: a sense of maddened outrage.
  14. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    67
    This activist documentary -- alternately impassioned, despairing, edifying, and hectoring about all the ways humans are screwing up the earth in a death rattle of hubris -- shouts, People, do something! In contrast, "An Inconvenient Truth" feels positively hushed.
  15. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    67
    As much a call to action as a documentary, it's a compelling and sobering lesson in the devastating effect of human industry on the planet. But a lesson nonetheless.
  16. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    63
    If you get through the first hour without slitting your throat, the cautiously optimistic last third offers some intriguing options.
  17. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    63
    Perhaps the most sobering statistic in The 11th Hour: Some 50,000 species a year are disappearing. Someday, it might be humans.
  18. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Scott Bowles
    63
    The 11th Hour is a bit like "An Inconvenient Truth" at Woodstock: a little spacey, a little preoccupied with self-love and prone to the occasional freakout.
  19. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Liam Lacey
    63
    Like any good religious sermon, it follows its scary vision of hell with a possibility of last-minute redemption.
  20. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    63
    In the end, your reaction to "Hour" may depend on your feelings about humanity's collective common sense.
  21. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Nelson Pressley
    60
    The picture almost beats its theme to death -- the first hour is enough -- but the imaginative designers dreaming up a cleaner future end this Cassandra cry on an upbeat note.
  22. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    50
    This movie, for all its noble intentions, is a bore.
  23. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    50
    If it gets people thinking about which light bulbs they buy and their current gas mileage and such, then it's good to have it in the world. It is, however, a panicky blur as documentaries go.
  24. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Connie Ogle
    50
    Feels more like a lecture you've already heard than a galvanizing call to action.
  25. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Joe Garofoli
    50
    There's some serious food for thought here.
  26. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Marc Mohan
    50
    Well-intentioned but overblown environmental agitprop.
  27. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    50
    Stripped of texture, even the sharpest comments come off as bromides.
  28. Empire
    Reviewed by: Helen O'Hara
    40
    Too scattershot to land any effective punches.
  29. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Mike D'Angelo
    40
    A cautionary eco-doc so earnest and moth-eaten it should properly be seen on filmstrip during fourth-period social studies.
  30. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Tasha Robinson
    25
    The 11th Hour is slick and passionate, but neither persuasive nor helpful; it's a headache of a film directed like an Errol Morris project, but with half the substance. It's clearly preaching to the choir, but even they may find it off-key.

User Reviews

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User Score
6.5 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 18 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 12
  3. Negative: 5 out of 12
  1. Halfwelshman
    3
    Perhaps I am writing with too much hindsight (the 11th Hour was released four years ago after all), but after finally seeing the film, I found it's message oddly dated. The talking heads clearly know their stuff (though I do object to the fact that they are overwhelmingly composed of American "experts" with a book to sell), but it seems like the film takes far too long to make its point. Two thirds of the film (nearly an hour) is taken up with re-stating what the vast majority of people who chose to watch the film presumably already know. When a number of solutions to the woes of climate change are finally presented, it is informative and interesting, but it should not take so long to get to the main point of your argument. And I accept that Leonardo DiCaprio is a dedicated and passionate environmental campaigner, but why get him to film cringe-inducing links between each section of the film? Yes DiCaprio's financial and promotional backing of the project must have been a great help to get The 11th Hour's message out there, but is it really necessary to him Leo staring wistfully off into the sunset whenever the debate runs out of steam. We get it Leo - you care! Now stop looking guilty on our behalf and let us listen to the experts again! Perhaps my view of the film would be different had I seen it sooner, before I heard all of the arguments being presented through different channels. As it is, The 11th Hour does eventually get round to raising some interesting points, and presenting viable political, economic and scientific solutions to humanity's collective damage to Planet Earth, but a lot of it is filler, and the rest is stale and preachy. The Planet diserves far more than just Leonardo DiCaprio's ernest intentions.… Full Review »
  2. JayH.
    6
    I don't doubt their is a serious environmental problem, but I think this documentary paints an overly grim and exaggerated view. It is informative though, and visually it is excellently done. I remember in the 1970's there was a panic caused about overpopulation, and their doomsday prediction never occurred.… Full Review »
  3. ChrisB.
    10
    I am giving this film a perfect score based purely on the depth and insight of the message. I am surprised by some of the negative reviews of this film and I can only guess that some people were unaware that it was a documentary. If you enjoyed An Inconvenient Truth even the smallest bit, then this is a must see.… Full Review »
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