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The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara
Metascore
87 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 36 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 33 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 36
  3. Negative: 0 out of 36
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  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    100
    McNamara speaks concisely and forcibly, rarely searching for a word, and he is not reciting boilerplate and old sound bites; there is the uncanny sensation that he is thinking as he speaks.
  2. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    100
    Probing... haunting.
  3. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    100
    The filmmaking is meticulous and the ideas are endlessly thought-provoking.
  4. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    100
    Masterful documentary.
  5. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    100
    Though the movie may not change many minds about McNamara, it richly humanizes him, a valuable feat atop all the fascinating reflection.
  6. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Chris Kaltenbach
    100
    A chilling reminder of the precipice the world stands on nowadays, from a man who looked over the edge more than once.
  7. Empire
    Reviewed by: David Hughes
    100
    The film's status as must-see documentary of the year is indisputable.
  8. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    100
    In the end, The Fog of War offers a couple of hours of brilliant clarity amid the noise and chaos.
  9. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    100
    Errol Morris may have been put on earth to make The Fog of War, a stunning portrait of Robert S. McNamara that closes a year of outstanding nonfiction movies on a high note.
  10. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Melissa Levine
    100
    Brilliant.
  11. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    100
    Never one to shy away from challenges, Morris has come up with one of the best documentaries of this or any year.
  12. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    100
    If there's one movie that ought to be studied by military and civilian leaders around the world at this treacherous historical moment, it is The Fog of War, Errol Morris's sober, beautifully edited documentary portrait of the former United States defense secretary Robert S. McNamara.
  13. Time
    Reviewed by: Richard Corliss
    100
    This is spellbinding reality cinema about duplicity and, worse, ignorance at the highest level.
  14. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    90
    Revisits the past with an eye on the present and future, hoping as McNamara does that his "lessons" are instructive and might keep history from repeating itself.
  15. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: J. Hoberman
    90
    No matter what your opinion of McNamara, The Fog of War is a chastening experience.
  16. Variety
    Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    90
    Errol Morris delivers a compelling, thoughtful and entirely involving documentary in The Fog of War.
  17. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    90
    McNamara fits perfectly into Morris's canon: He tells a story that knocks you right off your feet.
  18. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    88
    It will knock you for a loop like no other movie this year.
  19. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    88
    The most compelling -- and horrifying -- portion of the film, which interweaves archival footage and stylish graphics with the interview segments, centers on the firebombing of Japan during World War II.
  20. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    88
    McNamara, a robust conversationalist, is so lively that he bursts out of what is essentially a talking-head documentary.
  21. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    88
    The film's central drama is not between the former secretary and the filmmaker. It's between McNamara and history.
  22. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    88
    McNamara has a reputation for being intelligent and belligerent. The Fog of War validates the former characteristic, but not necessarily the latter.
  23. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    88
    McNamara's too mentally adroit to let Morris pin blame or guilt on him, and the director's not interested in shaming him.
  24. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    80
    Arguably the most conventional documentary made by Errol Morris and, perhaps equally surprising, it displays sympathy toward its subject.
  25. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Bob Westal
    80
    Presents us with a man who simply cannot be easily categorized, even when he looks us straight in the eye.
  26. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Rick Kisonak
    80
    Simultaneously offers priceless insight into the nation's past and a worrisome take on the future.
  27. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Charles Taylor
    80
    No one could have held The Fog of War wanting if Morris had concluded that it's impossible to get all the way to the bottom of Robert McNamara. But explicating an enigma is not the same thing as blurring it with artistic ambitions. The thickest fog in this documentary has been conjured not by McNamara, but by Errol Morris.
  28. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Marc Cooper
    80
    Morris is a more talented filmmaker than he is an interviewer. Mean-while, McNamara is a subject so complex and so rich in nuance that he requires no cinematic embellishment.
  29. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    80
    Haunting, troubling documentary.
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  30. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    75
    The film's greatest strength is its inadvertent timeliness. Parallels between LBJ's Vietnam policy and George W. Bush's Iraq policy go off in your head like flares.
  31. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Foreman
    75
    An extraordinary documentary about an extraordinary man that brings to urgent life potentially dry questions of American foreign policy in the 1960s.
  32. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Liam Lacey
    75
    The S in Robert S. McNamara stands for Strange, which is an unusual middle name and perhaps an apt description of the man at the centre of documentary filmmaker Errol Morris's gripping character study, The Fog of War.
  33. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: William Arnold
    75
    McNamara finally gets to tell his side of the story -- and is somewhat humanized in the process -- but still comes off looking like a tragic character living in a state of denial.
  34. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    60
    They're answers that will either earn your respect, or further damn him as the architect of an American nightmare.
  35. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    50
    More often McNamara comes across as Exhibit A in Morris's latest metaphysical creepshow.
  36. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    50
    The film is watchable as well as informative...But I wish I had a better notion of what story he's trying to tell.
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User Reviews

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User Score
8.8 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 25 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. harrison
    10
    The best documentary ever made. The music is beautiful and haunting, The film is a fantastic send off to McNamara, a man who is certainly going to hell when he dies.… Full Review »
  2. ShannonP.
    10
    This should be required viewing in every college and high school history class touching on American history. Those who would so readily crown WW II era Americans as "the greatest generation" can contemplate the little discussed fire bombing and burning of dozens of Japanese cities and tens of thousands of civilian women and children. If, as McNamara argues, "proportionality" is a key standard for judging war time behavior, then.… Full Review »
  3. WillieG.
    9
    Very well done, nearly every moment was gripping from start to finish. I'm not old enough to have experienced the periods of history covered in the film, yet this film hit home with me as a born & bred citizen. I would encourage and invite anyone to see this film at least once, particularly any fellow Americans old enough to comprehend the ultimate societal breakdown known as war.… Full Review »
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