Blood Diamond
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: December 8, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
13
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Essentially a romantic adventure story with politics in the background--an old-fashioned movie, I suppose, but exciting and stunningly well made. Read full review
90
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Action-adventure pictures have a lamentable tendency toward mindlessness, but Edward Zwick's epic story has numerous virtues apart from suspense and spectacle. Read full review
88
PremiereGlenn Kenny
Not that Diamond skimps on the social commentary; far from it. But it makes its points without too much breast-beating, caching its polemic within a tough-minded entertainment. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
A visually sumptuous, bullet-train-paced thriller with a really provocative theme. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Blood Diamond is a gem in a season with lots of worthy movies. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
As strong as Blood Diamond is in its best moments, I wish it had been even harder-edged. DiCaprio is remarkable - his work is almost on par with his performance this year in "The Departed." Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Zwick's narrative skills keep us hooked on the story, and the first-rate production values and imaginative use of locations (it was shot in Mozambique) give the film an enthralling scope and epic sweep. Read full review
83
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
There are times when his message threatens to overwhelm his story line, and the last 15 minutes or so of Blood Diamond demonstrate what happens when sentimentality wins out over style and grit. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Given that the movie doesn't have a single narrative surprise--you always know where it's going and why, commercially speaking, it's going there--it's amazing how good Blood Diamond is. I guess that's the surprise. Read full review
80
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
For its flaws, Blood Diamond is a gem, if only for being an unusually smart, engaged popcorn flick. Read full review
80
EmpireDamon Wise
Great performances, provocative ideas and gripping action scenes fall prey to Hollywood logic and pat storytelling in the final hour. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
It's a solid performance from Leonardo DiCaprio, who has grown into this sort of "gritty" role and is more believable after having been seen dancing on the dark side in "The Departed." Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Blood Diamond is, in the vernacular of Old Hollywood, a rip-roaring adventure, the kind made in the '30s with Clark Gable and the handiest leading lady on contract at MGM. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterSheri Linden
To the unlikely role of a Bogart-esque reluctant hero, Leonardo DiCaprio brings an intensity that compels even when the script falters. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
There's no use griping about the superfluous white-on-white romance that generates so much dead space in Zwick's movie, for without it Blood Diamond would never have been made. Which would be a pity, for as liberal hand-wringing goes, it's a winner. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Blood Diamond attempts to be an action thriller with serious political overtones, to be as much position paper as "Zulu Dawn." Read full review
70
SlateDana Stevens
Blood Diamond is a by-the-numbers message picture, to be sure...But the director, Edward Zwick, is craftsman enough that the pace never slackens, the chase scenes thrill, and the battle scenes sicken. And if it makes viewers think twice about buying their sweethearts that hard-won hunk of ice for Christmas, so much the better. Read full review
70
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Blood Diamond only skims the surface of many important subjects--the script doesn't begin to explain what the civil war was about. But if it opens a few eyes, it will have done its job. Read full review
70
TimeRichard Corliss/Richard Schickel
DiCaprio, here as in "The Departed," proves himself the most watchful and watchable actor of his age. Since his teens, he has known how to make moral dilemmas seem both profound and sexy, and at 32 he just keeps getting better. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Edward Zwick brings unimpeachable good intentions to his film about the bloody underbelly of the international diamond trade, but when social conscience jockeys for attention with movie-star glamour, glamour always wins. The result is a rip-snorting adventure set against the backdrop of African misery. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
There's an extraordinary subplot in Blood Diamond, sandwiched between a main story meant to arouse outrage and a Hollywood-clumsy finale meant to provoke a standing ovation. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
It's earnest, but it feels beside the point. Blood Diamond's real point: box office. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
As an entry in the advocacy-entertainment genre, in which glamorous movie stars bring our attention to the plight of the less fortunate, Blood Diamond is superior to 2003's ridiculous "Beyond Borders" while looking strident and obvious next to last year's "The Constant Gardener." Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
The combination of DiCaprio's soulful, self-effacing work in Scorsese's "The Departed," and this unexpectedly complex portrait in a simple-minded movie, make it the best year of his career since the big boat crash of 1997. Read full review
60
VarietyBrian Lowry
Africa's enduring sorrow is ripe for drama, but Blood Diamond is, finally, a fitting metaphor for the gems: Potentially brilliant from a distance, but upon closer inspection, one likely will see the flaws. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Thanks to the redundancy, though, Blood Diamond is dramatically diffuse, and at least 30 minutes too long. Thanks to Mr. DiCaprio's raffishly dashing soldier of fortune, the movie is worth watching all the same.
60
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
It's a reasonably entertaining actioner, and Zwick doesn't shy away from depicting violence or the horrors of war, but as a social statement it falls a little short. And emeralds are prettier anyway. Read full review
60
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Preachy infotainment that wants to offer thrills, too -- an uneasy hybrid. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
There is every reason to learn about the link between jewels and death, by all means, but no reason to try to disguise a term paper as entertainment. Read full review
50
Village VoiceNathan Lee
De Beers can relax; the only indignation stirred up by Blood Diamond won't be among those who worry about where their jewelry came from, but with audiences incensed by facile politics and bad storytelling. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
While the film never quite reaches the emotional peaks it so obviously seeks to scale, Zwick's film is still potent enough to save you three months salary. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Much like Zwick's "Glory" and "The Last Samurai," Blood Diamond strives to be an "important" film while stopping well short of being genuinely provocative and artistically chancy. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
While Mr. DiCaprio turns out to be an ideal fit for Blood Diamond, there's an insolvable disconnect between this serious story and the frivolous way it has been told. There is no reason to doubt the filmmakers' sincerity; only their filmmaking. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
It's like watching "The Treasure of Sierra Madre" as remade by "Nightline." Read full review
50
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
It's part action film, part buddy movie, part love story, part political tract and, in sum, much less: a meandering, preachy, condescending mess that only occasionally bursts into life and even then at such a tepid level that you can hardly call it living. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
DiCaprio is terrific, but he can't save this lecture from the shame of using Africa as a vehicle for another white man's redemption. Read full review
50
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
The one attraction in the picture is DiCaprio's performance: easy yet strong, confident, humorous. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle Smith
DiCaprio and Connelly give off the sexual tension of pickled herring. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Director Edward Zwick tried to make a great movie, but somewhere in the process he forgot to make a good one. Read full review
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