Bringing Out the Dead

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Blazes up constantly with a stunning, off-kilter brilliance, an incandescent force that sometimes explodes the space between us and the screen.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

To look at Bringing Out the Dead --to look, indeed, at almost any Scorsese film--is to be reminded that film can touch us urgently and deeply.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

Potentially oppressive subject matter is redeemed by impeccable moral integrity and stunning artistry.

Newsweek David Ansen

Full of bravura moments and high-wire performances.

Film.com Tom Keogh

Certainly one of his (Scorsese's) most profound works.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Cage, who gives a blazing, imposive performance, uses his haunted eyes to reveal the emotional scars that Frank can't heal.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

It's a slice of life, with all the trimmings, and one of the strongest films of the year.

USA Today Mike Clark

In a role as tailor-made for him as the story is for its writer and director, Nicolas Cage anchors the movie with one of his best performances.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

A text that provokes thought more than directs it, which should fascinate new and repeat viewers for a long time.

Variety Emanuel Levy

Achieves a poetic, quasi-religious tone.

Time Richard Schickel

Like its title -- blunt, thruthful, uncompromising. It is hard on an audience, even harrowing. But that's exactly what Martin Scorsese was put on earth to do.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

An intense, volatile film full of sorrow and wild, mordant humor.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

This is Martin Scorsese, and in the end, it's his town, and his show.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

An ecstatic sensory experience so overloaded it hardly matters that the narrative has been placed on a back burner.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Equally fascinated by the afflictions of life and the usually squandered opportunities these afford for courage and self-sacrifice.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Develops microclimates of mood without fully developing the same shadings of character.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Downbeat and at times strangely slow-moving despite all its beautifully shot high-speed ambulance rides.

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

Filled with so much heartbreaking beauty, Bringing Out the Dead might be best described as an artist's sketchbook, a series of tableaux and ideas that provide a telling glimpse of a director whose work is always evolving.

Mr. Showbiz Richard T. Jameson

There's talent to burn in this movie. But the flame is cold.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

The mood is less angst-ridden than hypercaffeinated, as Scorsese keeps cranking the velocity-bloodbath in the reggae inferno, exploding skyline pietà, climactic white light of redemption.

TNT RoughCut Christopher Brandon

Fans of the greatest working film director will be pleased.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Has a certain morbid fascination, but it has no real bite, and finally seems so contrived and pointless it borders on being out-and-out exploitation.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Although it tries continually to focus on the heart, it ultimately fails to ignite it.

Entertainment Weekly Ty Burr

Works more in your head than on the screen.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

While heartfelt and beautifully crafted, Bringing Out the Dead is too freighted with its protagonist's failed savior complex and is surprisingly lacking in primal impact.

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

Despite moments of gritty greatness that rival Scorsese's best, the movie is severely hampered by please-everyone syndrome, especially in the editing and choice of music.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

(Cage's) performance feels embalmed in the accumulated shtick of an actor trapped in excess.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

A relentless descent into a psychedelic hell, a rambunctious feel-bad epic.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Dances on the edge of flat-lining just like the DOAs that are Frank's stock-in-trade.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Doesn't pack the punch of Schrader and Scorsese's career-best collaborations ("Raging Bull," "Taxi Driver").

Film.com Ernest Hardy

We don't really care about this everyman's moral dilemna and spiritual crisis because -- for all the poetic insights he offers in his philosophical voice-over -- he never transcends the details to become an engrossing character.

Film.com John Hartl

Doesn't seem to have anything to say.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Curiously and disappointingly lethargic.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Falls far short of its grim potential.