Promised Land Reviews
Flix Capacitor
It's more middle of the road than transcendent, but Promised Land offers a quietly engaging and even-handed look at a controversial issue.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/5
The Patriot Ledger
The film never makes a convincing argument against fracking, probably because it's too busy being cloying.
Full Review
| Original Score: C
We Got This Covered
Gus Van Sant's Promised Land is an engaging performance-driven drama that works more often than not.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
... Van Sant's eye and sense of poetry no doubt elevate what's essentially an updated Frank Capra story ...
Full Review
| Original Score: 87/100
Birmingham Mail
'You can't make natural gas from shale without fracking' doesn't quite have the same ring to it as 'You can't start a fire without a spark'.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Spectrum (St. George, Utah)
The pro-environment message here is more effective because of the film's subtlety, a casting twist featuring the likeable Matt Damon, and a script that doesn't insult its audience.
Full Review
| Original Score: B-
Observer [UK]
There are some good scenes early on, and the conflict at the centre is real. But it's sentimental, Capraesque fare ...
Irish Times
Thee film-makers' sincerity so indisputable, that Promised Land never entirely spins off the rails. It's hard to swallow, but easy to digest.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Contactmusic.com
Hydraulic fracturing might not be the most compelling subject for a movie, but it provides a topical backdrop for this engaging drama about ethics.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
This is London
A gentle rather than dramatic film that, once the central argument is laid out, lacks real flair.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Daily Mail [UK]
A flawed but watchable eco-drama - heavily indebted to a wittier anti-corporate movie, Local Hero, made 30 years ago.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Little White Lies
Van Sant is no Frank Capra, so why is he trying so hard to be?
Full Review
| Original Score: 1/5
Financial Times
Not confident or bolshy enough about the subject, too aware of eco versus economic pros and cons ...
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
ViewLondon
The latest film from Gus Van Sant is a thought-provoking and emotionally engaging smalltown drama with a strong script and a terrific central performance from co-writer Matt Damon.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Sky Movies
A compelling glimpse into a world of corporate chicanery where unscrupulous business giants casually toss decent chaps like Butler into the fray to take the, er, frack.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Birmingham Post
The film means well, it just doesn't stir the soul.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5.5/10
Empire Magazine
Northern Exposure with Jason Bourne. Which is a backhanded way of saying this is far from the challenging movie it promised to be.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Digital Spy
Feels more Hollywoodland than 'Promised Land'.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
Rip It Up
Quietly powerful, this has a fine cast and yet it's very much Damon's movie, as he delivers his finest, most subtly nuanced performance yet and, remarkably, actually allows himself to look, ahem, older.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/5
