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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

11th Hour, The
Warner Independent Pictures


6.5

based on 30 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 13 votes
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MPAA RATING:

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, William McDonough, Bill McKibben, Kenny Ausubel, Janine Benyus, Sylvia Earle Ph.D., Paul Hawken, and Stephen Hawking

The 11th Hour is the last moment when change is possible. The film explores how we’ve arrived at this moment -- how we live, how we impact the earth’s ecosystems, and what we can do to change our course. Featuring ongoing dialogues of experts from all over the world, including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, former head of the CIA R. James Woolsey and sustainable design experts William McDonough and Bruce Mau in addition to over 50 leading scientists, thinkers and leaders who discuss the most important issues that face our planet and people. (Warner Independent Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Documentary
WRITTEN BY:	Nadia Conners Leonardo DiCaprio Leila Conners Petersen
DIRECTED BY:	Nadia Conners Leila Conners Petersen
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: April 8, 2008 Theatrical: August 17, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Considerably less slick than "An Inconvenient Truth," and no less urgent.

TV Guide Ken Fox

The one film to see on this most crucial subject.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

The word bears repeating, so everyone from Andrew Weil to Stephen Hawking to Mikhail Gorbachev is here to speak the still-inconvenient truth. The filmmaking, however, is far more relentless than in that Oscar-winning Al Gore slide show.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

Thankfully for audiences, 11th Hour is not without hope. The filmmakers save the most exhilarating portion for last when they ask what's being done about the problems.

LA Weekly Judith Lewis

Ultimately a triumph of redemptive ideas that DiCaprio -- God bless his celebrity -- may finally succeed in transporting from the environmental fringe to the mainstream moviegoing audience.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

An unnerving, surprisingly affecting documentary about our environmental calamity, is such essential viewing.

Premiere Aaron Hillis

As The 11th Hour's message of Profound Importance warrants a four-star rating, the film itself does not.

The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck

An impassioned ecology-themed documentary that ultimately is more rewarding for informational than cinematic reasons.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Arguably a more important movie, which more clearly lays out what must be done to save the world, and how we can begin.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

It isn’t much of a movie (unless your aesthetic was formed in high-school science class), but it will be hugely informative to aliens who land on this planet in a thousand years and wonder why there’s no welcoming committee.

Variety Justin Chang

Presents the viewer with reams of depressing data, loads of hand-wringing about the woeful state of humanity and, finally, some altogether fascinating ideas about how to go about solving the climate crisis.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Though the filmmaking isn't everything it might have been (the opening montage is especially clumsy), their argument is compelling, absorbing, and urgent.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

While it's a well-constructed doc, full of relevant information and geared toward those people who still might be fence-sitters on the subject, there's something missing from The 11th Hour's lengthy procession of talking heads: a sense of maddened outrage.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

This activist documentary -- alternately impassioned, despairing, edifying, and hectoring about all the ways humans are screwing up the earth in a death rattle of hubris -- shouts, People, do something! In contrast, "An Inconvenient Truth" feels positively hushed.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

As much a call to action as a documentary, it's a compelling and sobering lesson in the devastating effect of human industry on the planet. But a lesson nonetheless.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

If you get through the first hour without slitting your throat, the cautiously optimistic last third offers some intriguing options.

USA Today Scott Bowles

The 11th Hour is a bit like "An Inconvenient Truth" at Woodstock: a little spacey, a little preoccupied with self-love and prone to the occasional freakout.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Perhaps the most sobering statistic in The 11th Hour: Some 50,000 species a year are disappearing. Someday, it might be humans.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Like any good religious sermon, it follows its scary vision of hell with a possibility of last-minute redemption.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

In the end, your reaction to "Hour" may depend on your feelings about humanity's collective common sense.

Washington Post Nelson Pressley

The picture almost beats its theme to death -- the first hour is enough -- but the imaginative designers dreaming up a cleaner future end this Cassandra cry on an upbeat note.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

If it gets people thinking about which light bulbs they buy and their current gas mileage and such, then it's good to have it in the world. It is, however, a panicky blur as documentaries go.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Stripped of texture, even the sharpest comments come off as bromides.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

Well-intentioned but overblown environmental agitprop.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Feels more like a lecture you've already heard than a galvanizing call to action.

San Francisco Chronicle Joe Garofoli

There's some serious food for thought here.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

This movie, for all its noble intentions, is a bore.

Empire Helen O'Hara

Too scattershot to land any effective punches.

Village Voice Mike D'Angelo

A cautionary eco-doc so earnest and moth-eaten it should properly be seen on filmstrip during fourth-period social studies.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

The 11th Hour is slick and passionate, but neither persuasive nor helpful; it's a headache of a film directed like an Errol Morris project, but with half the substance. It's clearly preaching to the choir, but even they may find it off-key.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Daniel gave it a9:
Along with "No End In Sight," one of the best documentaries during the last years.

Alam gave it a9:
An intelligent, very well conceived documentary. It deserved a wider audience.

Enrique gave it a10:
Excellent! One of the most important movies later.

Frank G. gave it a5:
Many of the talking heads in the movie were interviewed in the Sundance Channel's TV series "Big Ideas for a Small Planet". Much of the interviewing focuses on individuals ideas and opinions but as a documentary should include more evidence and data. I think an Inconvenient Truth told a more compelling story. I think the overall message is important but I'm critical of this film as particularly good at delivering that message.

S.A. SR. gave it a0:
BORING-INFORMATIVE-BUT BORING AS HELL. I could've waited for the "documentary" to come to HBO On Demand, or any ON DEMAND for that matter. After the first 15 min. I found more excitement poring butter on my popcorn & opening salt packets! I was like "what in the hell have I gotten myself into?" Please, please, PLEASE don't make a sequel; Leo is good, but.....*sigh*.......the idea, the thought, the message, could've & should've been saved for cable and my money should've been saved for my gas tank!

Iamhe A. gave it a3:
If you want to see exactly what is missing from this film, go to your favorite video site and search for "Vandana Shiva." Shiva has spent a lifetime building people's movements to take back rights to water and other critical resources that have been usurped by corporations for private gain. In the 11th hour, Shiva's face flashes across the screen for a split second, but not a single word from her can be heard. This is emblematic of the fact that the leaders of anti-corporate movements throughout the world, as such, have no voice in this film. You do hear from some activists, such as Wangari Maathai, but only as talking head "experts" on the subject of our planetary demise, not as leaders of movements intended to actually do something about it. Although the film makes the point that political, rather than technical, approaches are the most important and difficult part of any true solution, the solutions presented as examples are almost entirely of a technical nature, with an emphasis on consumer choices rather than upon collective organizing and action. While the film does present the seriousness of the unfolding calamity, without viable political approaches the effect may be to paralyze rather than to awaken.

11th Hour, The Warner Independent Pictures

11th Hour, The
Warner Independent Pictures