Five Minutes of Heaven Reviews
Top Critic
Two marvelous performances from two Irish actors turn Oliver Hirschbiegel's Five Minutes of Heaven into a tour de force.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
The movie might have been more tense had it been a little more quiet. Neeson and Nesbitt, however, are so good that narrative hiccups never threaten to lose us...
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
So many movies set in Northern Ireland are about the Troubles that we might justifiably ask, why another? Five Minutes of Heaven is far from the best of the breed, but it does at least take a new tack.
Ultimately, Five Minutes of Heaven is stronger as a whole than its individual parts.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
It's an original movie idea that feels written for the stage, all the more so since so much of our attention is diverted to admiring how the actors act, in roles with a high degree of technical difficulty.
Full Review
| Original Score: B-
Early scenes set up the tragedy, but the majority of Oliver Hirschbiegel's movie is set in a TV studio where the two eventually face each other, and the tension, unfortunately, quickly becomes stagey.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1/5
A feature-length talkathon built on a sketchy premise and strong star turns from Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt.
| Original Score: 2.5/5
Five Minutes of Heaven becomes less interested in rehashing nationalistic conflicts than in the scars left by righteousness, something both Nesbitt and Neeson hammer home with every thousand-yard stare.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Could benefit from a little less of the balanced historical context and a little more of the movie madness of Quentin Tarantino.
The three parts never coalesce, even if they each have potential.
It is very good at stating the obvious but fails to bring new insight to this age-old morality tale.
Powerhouse performances by Liam Neeson and James Nesbit make this an intense, ultimately moving tale.
