| 100 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
Washington blows you away. To say he gives the performance of his career is an understatement.
|
| 100 |
Chicago Tribune
Both the movie and Denzel Washington are knockouts.
|
| 100 |
New York Daily News
Washington can bank on an Oscar nomination for the most forceful work of his career.
|
| 91 |
Portland Oregonian
This is some of the finest acting you will see on-screen, maybe ever. Single-handedly, Washington turns The Hurricane from so-so to must-see.
|
| 90 |
TNT RoughCut
Morgan Fouch
One of year's most thought-provoking and soul-stirring films.
|
| 90 |
LA Weekly
This is the deepest of Jewison's three racially themed films, the other two being "In the Heat of the Night" and "A Soldier's Story."
|
| 90 |
Washington Post
Brilliantly played by Denzel Washington
|
| 88 |
Chicago Sun-Times
This is one of Denzel Washington's great performances, on a par with his work in "Malcolm X."
|
| 88 |
USA Today
Epic in nearly every way, The Hurricane has the power to blow you away.
|
| 88 |
New York Post
An expertly crafted, deeply moving film.
|
| 83 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Jewison handles this rich tapestry of non-linear scenes with the skill of the old pro he is, and carefully modulates the drama to create the maximum emotional impact.
|
| 83 |
Entertainment Weekly
Washington immerses himself, even more than he did in "Malcolm X," in a stare of unforgiving outrage.
|
| 80 |
Variety
In what's easily his most zealous and fully realized performance since "Malcolm X," Washington elevates the earnest, occasionally simplistic narrative to the level of a genuinely touching moral expose.
|
| 80 |
Time
In Washington's finely shaded performance he's a low-pressure system, illuminated by distant flashes of lightning.
|
| 75 |
Baltimore Sun
Jewison's focus on the Canadians' dogged do-gooderism might have actually prevented a good movie from being a great one.
|
| 75 |
Miami Herald
Milks Carter's story for maximum "inspirational" value, and at times the movie skirts dangerously close to afterschool-special territory.
|
| 75 |
San Francisco Chronicle
(Washington) raises it to the level of importance with an acting job that's one unbroken chain of intense emotion.
|
| 75 |
Boston Globe
(Washington's is) an astonishing performance, partly because it's so devoid of histrionics, and it has Oscar nomination written all over it.
|
| 75 |
Charlotte Observer
The rest of this well-intentioned picture never reaches (Washington's) level of subtlety and intensity.
|
| 70 |
The New York Times
Washington leans into an otherwise schlocky movie and slams it out of the ballpark.
|
| 70 |
Chicago Reader
The narrative--a complex structure of flashbacks and shifts in perspective that's part inspirational story, part courtroom drama, part character study, part exposé--never makes it seem that history is being oversimplified.
|
| 70 |
Los Angeles Times
With power, intensity, remarkable range and an ability to disturb that is both unnerving and electric, it is more than Washington's most impressive part.
|
| 70 |
Newsweek
Kevin Stuart
The dedication of the Canadian team strains belief at times, and for good reason.
|
| 70 |
Film.com
An often affecting, if standard-issue, Hollywood biopic.
|
| 60 |
Village Voice
Far too tepid.
|
| 60 |
TV Guide
The material is inherently compelling and anchored by Washington's performance.
|
| 50 |
Christian Science Monitor
The story is so important and compelling that you wish Jewison had treated it more as an urgent wake-up call than a by-the-numbers morality play.
|
| 50 |
San Francisco Examiner
What remains is Washington's volcanic and contemplative work at the core of a film packed to the rafters with raging bull.
|
| 40 |
Dallas Observer
M. V. Moorhead
(Washington's) performance is halfhearted, soft.
|
| 40 |
Austin Chronicle
Feels overlong and underscripted.
|
