The Apostle
The Apostle Image
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Metascore
83 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 28 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.9 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 8 Ratings

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0 out of 10
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  • Starring: Robert Duvall
  • Summary: He was touched by the power and filled with the spirit. A man of faith. A man of the flesh. A man plagued by the darker side of human desire, and rage. Robert Duvall is Sonny, a gifted Southern preacher loved by his community. When Sonny loses control and commits a crime of passion, he is forced to run from the law. Hiding out in the small town of Bayou Boutte, Sonny adopts a new identity and sets out on a new mission ' to find the road to redemption. (Universal)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 28
  3. Negative: 1 out of 28
  1. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    100
    Duvall is a blazing wonder in a film that ranks with the year's best.
    All this critic's reviews
  2. Empire
    Reviewed by: Neil Jeffries
    80
    Nothing can make an agnostic squirm like full-on religion but by loading his central character with lay weaknesses as well as spiritual strengths, Duvall invests the near-documentary style film with an everyman appeal.
  3. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    60
    This rambling exercise in local color has been a pet project of Duvall's for more than a decade, and it's to his credit that he managed to get such a low-concept picture produced. It's also to his credit that he resists the temptation to take easy potshots at religion, particularly of the revivalist variety.
  4. San Francisco Examiner
    Reviewed by: Barbara Shulgasser
    25
    One of the most self-in-dulgent, muddled, badly written, vague and pointless exercises in filmmaking I have ever had to sit through.

See all 28 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 1 out of 2
  1. OliverC.
    10
    One of Duvall's best roles. He made this movie fascinating.
  2. DaveT.
    2
    I rented this movie based on the high metacritic score. What a mistake. Robert Duvall should stick to acting, the 2 points is for his convincing acting performance. the flaws in this movie are too numerous to get into. Firstly, the movie just drags on and on, it felt like a 3 hour movie of just rambling preacher speak. many parts of this movie should have been left on the cutting room floor. The billy bob character is just pointless. he apears in the last half hour of the movie with a grudge. no point to have him at all. the last of many many sermons i was just fast forwarding the dvd [***SPOILER***] until the cops took sonny away. I think critics like the robert duvall performance (which was good) and just gave the movie a pass, ignoring the ultra slow pace of the movie as well as the baffling and useless billy bob character.… Expand

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