| 90 |
LA Weekly
F. X. Feeney
A superb film by any measure, as deep and harsh as the sin Dillon committed to become great.
|
| 90 |
Salon.com
Charles Taylor
One 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.
|
| 89 |
Austin Chronicle
Kimberley Jones
The 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.
|
| 88 |
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Parsimonious 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.
|
| 88 |
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
Stark, haunting, epic, and mournful, The Claim is a mountain of a film.
|
| 80 |
Slate
David Edelstein
Gives off the same vapor of impending tragedy—of a fate neither just nor unjust but ineffably, wrenchingly right.
|
| 80 |
Film.com
Ernest Hardy
A sleeper that's well worth hunting down. Its rewards sneak up on you, but then linger long afterwards.
|
| 75 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Paula Nechak
Beautifully acted and conceived -- even if the final vision is not always totally satisfying.
|
| 75 |
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
I 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.
|
| 75 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Bob Graham
It overcomes some patchiness to turn into a rich emotional experience, ranging in degree from fire to ice.
|
| 75 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
Desmond Ryan
Winterbottom also has the insight to share the novelist's suggestion that landscape can reflect and, to a degree, even shape character.
|
| 75 |
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
Its 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.
|
| 70 |
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
A languorously muted, occasionally magnificent film.
|
| 70 |
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Draws an electric performance from Peter Mullan.
|
| 67 |
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
There's something almost too controlled, cerebral, and overdetermined about Winterbottom's Western notions.
|
| 50 |
Portland Oregonian
Kim Morgan
The film moves too slowly and dispassionately to resonate as it should.
|
| 50 |
TV Guide
Ken Fox
This strikingly beautiful anti-western is filled with arresting images.
|
| 50 |
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Aside 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.
|
| 50 |
Mr. Showbiz
Kevin Maynard
Despite 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.
|
| 50 |
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
Sadly the film is so elusive, so distant, that it never seems more than half-alive.
|
| 50 |
USA Today
Staff [Not Credited]
The actors seem as frozen as the landscape in this unsuccessful attempt at a grand and profound Western about the California Gold Rush.
|
| 50 |
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Seems 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.
|
| 50 |
Washington Post
Rita Kempley
Nicely acted, wonderfully scenic but emotionally vapid.
|
| 50 |
Film.com
Robert Horton
This director's (Winterbottom) reach is impressive, but this time it doesn't quite grasp.
|
| 40 |
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
The film feels inauthentic, a cardboard version of other epics that's cast for distribution to various world markets.
|
| 40 |
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
Comes to the screen missing subtle cues and crucial connections.
|
| 30 |
TNT RoughCut
Andy Klein
I 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.
|
| 20 |
Village Voice
Dennis Lim
A numb, oddly dispassionate trudge toward predestined doom, inevitable in all the wrong ways.
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