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90One of those rare literary adaptations that finds its fidelity in freedom, that stands as both a fitting version of its source material and as its own creation.
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90A superb film by any measure, as deep and harsh as the sin Dillon committed to become great.
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89The characters in The Claim suffer under the weight of very big things -- betrayal, abandonment, disease, death -- but they do so quietly, stoically, until, by God, they just can't take it anymore.
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88Parsimonious with its plot, which is revealed on a need-to-know basis. At first, we're not even sure who is who; dialogue is half-heard, references are unclear, the townspeople know things we discover only gradually.
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88Stark, haunting, epic, and mournful, The Claim is a mountain of a film.
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80A sleeper that's well worth hunting down. Its rewards sneak up on you, but then linger long afterwards.
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80Gives off the same vapor of impending tragedy—of a fate neither just nor unjust but ineffably, wrenchingly right.
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75I liked The Claim -- as much for its stark visual beauty and impassioned performances as its intelligent script and willingness to probe the tragic side of life.
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75Its sprawling canvas is mere backdrop for the most intimate of character studies -- a portrait of a man who chose material wealth and found emotional ruin.
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75Winterbottom also has the insight to share the novelist's suggestion that landscape can reflect and, to a degree, even shape character.
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75It overcomes some patchiness to turn into a rich emotional experience, ranging in degree from fire to ice.
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75Beautifully acted and conceived -- even if the final vision is not always totally satisfying.
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70Draws an electric performance from Peter Mullan.
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70A languorously muted, occasionally magnificent film.
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67There's something almost too controlled, cerebral, and overdetermined about Winterbottom's Western notions.
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50Seems more clever than heartfelt, and whether you enjoy it may depend on how much you like Robert Altman's eccentric western "McCabe and Mrs. Miller," which it uncannily resembles.
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50Aside from an uninspired script by Frank Cotrell Boyce, is that none of the assembled actors really has enough star presence to compete with the sheer spectacle.
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50The actors seem as frozen as the landscape in this unsuccessful attempt at a grand and profound Western about the California Gold Rush.
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50Despite the film's impressively epic look and an interesting cast of young and old actors, it ringingly sounds the same dour note over and over again.
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50This strikingly beautiful anti-western is filled with arresting images.
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50The film moves too slowly and dispassionately to resonate as it should.
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50This director's (Winterbottom) reach is impressive, but this time it doesn't quite grasp.
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50Sadly the film is so elusive, so distant, that it never seems more than half-alive.
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50Nicely acted, wonderfully scenic but emotionally vapid.
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40Comes to the screen missing subtle cues and crucial connections.
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40The film feels inauthentic, a cardboard version of other epics that's cast for distribution to various world markets.
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30I can’t imagine why anyone would plunge ahead with this project -- an adaptation of a classic no one reads, about characters no one could care about, directed by a filmmaker of little talent and less success.
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20A numb, oddly dispassionate trudge toward predestined doom, inevitable in all the wrong ways.
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Positive: 2 out of 2
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Mixed: 0 out of 2
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Negative: 0 out of 2
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DL10Amazing, amazing film. Great acting, cinematography, emotionally engrossing story and of course Milla Jovovich is smokin'.