Critic Reviews
| 100 |
Christian Science Monitor Gloria Goodale
Compelling. |
| 90 |
Newark Star-Ledger Alan Sepinwall
That balance of viewpoints--positive and negative, tragic and comic--is what makes Carrier such extraordinary viewing. |
| 90 |
Newsday Diane Werts
The 10 hours of PBS' immersive miniseries Carrier are frank and intimate, hard-hitting and heart-rending, rocking (with hit songs) and rolling (when the ship pitches so sharply, planes can't land). |
| 88 |
New York Post Adam Buckman
Titled Carrier, this series from Mel Gibson's Icon Productions might be the most candid look at everyday life on board a U.S. warship in wartime that has ever been filmed. |
| 80 |
Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert
The filmmakers deliver a fine balance of both elated big-gun worship and humiliated bathroom cleaning, melting-pot team-making and the cliquishness of ethnic groups. |
| 80 |
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen
What sets Carrier apart is the amount of time devoted to this single topic, a whopping 10 hours. I made it through the first three hours without losing interest, but I wonder how many viewers will gut it out for the duration. |
| 80 |
Salon Heather Havrilesky
With a careful mix of respect, curiosity and humor, the filmmakers offer a colorful and surprisingly nuanced tour of the day-to-day operations of the USS Nimitz during a six-month deployment in 2005, from California to Hong Kong, Guam, Bahrain and Perth, Australia. |
| 80 |
TV Guide Matt Roush
With its scenic photography, slick editing and relentless pop-rock soundtrack, Carrier has the feel of a movie, or maybe the world's longest recruitment video. It's also an engrossing, rewarding and addictive study of personal endurance and sacrifice. |
| 60 |
Los Angeles Times Robert Lloyd
But even at 10 hours, Carrier feels cursory and incomplete. That's not to say that at most any given moment it's uninteresting--it's quite watchable--just that it doesn't add up to as much as it should. |
| 60 |
New York Daily News David Hinckley
Like the Navy, Carrier is perfect for some and probably isn't for everyone. |
| 40 |
Variety Brian Lowry
Clearly, the producers have endeavored to offer a snapshot of their service, but because Carrier lacks a sharp point of view, there's a kind of "duh" quality to the results. |
| 40 |
Washington Post Tom Shales
Those who wade into Carrier might not want to be quitters, either, but after four or five hours, they may find they'd really rather be checking out who's survived on "American Idol." |
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