Average Rating: 6.3/10
Reviews Counted: 133
Fresh: 89 | Rotten: 44
Though lengthy and at times plodding, Soderbergh's vision and Benicio Del Toro's understated performance ensure that Che always fascinates.
Average Rating: 5.6/10
Critic Reviews: 25
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 11
Though lengthy and at times plodding, Soderbergh's vision and Benicio Del Toro's understated performance ensure that Che always fascinates.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 17,792
Part 1 of Steven Soderbergh's Che Guevara saga stars Benicio Del Toro as the legendary Argentine revolutionary. The film opens with Che as one of the important figures in the growing Cuban rebellion led by Fidel Castro (Demián Bichir). The movie charts how the two successfully built an underground army large enough to successfully overthrow the government of Fulgencio Batista. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
R, 2 hr. 9 min.
Art House & International, Drama
Peter Buchman, Benicio Del Toro, Steven Soderbergh, Benjamin A. van der Veen
Jan 24, 2009 Wide
Jul 14, 2009
$1.5M
IFC Films
All Critics (134) | Top Critics (26) | Fresh (91) | Rotten (44) | DVD (7)
Soderbergh has made two almost perfect war films, more like the Rings Trilogy than The Green Berets.
There is precious little in these movies to fill out our understanding of what it was that made Che a rebel, a leader of men, and the repository of the romantic dreams of several generations of armchair revolutionaries
A potentially great title-role performance by Benicio Del Toro, which won him the best actor award at Cannes, is buried beneath Soderbergh's stylistic tics and a defiant lack of dramatic tension.
In releasing this reverent, meticulous, fascinating but flaccid history in two lengthy parts, Soderbergh committed perhaps the greatest sin of all. He made Che boring.
Che, the story of a failed revolutionary, also fails as a film.
It's hard to know which scene, where the men are tired, hungry and ill-equipped, is more or less important than the others.
The myth somehow deserves better.
The quality of the film is more than a testament to Mr Del Toro's acting skills, it is a reminder that Hollywood can make great films without 'selling out'.
The director sees Guevara as a pure humanitarian. ... The films are excellent, but understanding this complex historical figure requires more than one source.
Soderbergh has no interest in sentimentality, or back story, or even really in Guevara's philosophy, except as a rigorously footnoted onscreen reflection. Practically rejecting outright the concept of poetic license, Che is radical as a biopic.
simultaneously a Hollywood throwback with its lengthy, four-and-a-half-hour roadshow grandiosity and a challenging experiment in genre reformulation
It feels more European than American, with long takes and long shots that keep the characters firmly defined by their relationships to one another and to their environment.
Che is a ground-level study in perseverance.
Steven Soderbergh's fabulous-looking Che is yet another dubious Guevara biopic that sees the man's ideology as something to be worn and not questioned.
Those who have read something about this will get more out of the movies, but it's not compulsory. I saw both parts in one day and the experience was absorbing.
The Guevara portrayed here has humour but no irony: his commitment to the revolutionary ethos leaves little room for doubt, neurosis, or private loyalties of any kind.
A major disappointment. Soderbergh has stripped the story of most of its drama and though Del Toro, who won Best Actor at Cannes last year, is very convincing as Che, this Spanish-language film almost seems like an anti-movie.
Overall, a worthwhile venture if you have always wanted to know more about Guevara's controversial legacy, but were unsure where to start.
It's not a Hollywood-style movie - it demands patience and proper attention - but it's a great movie, and rewards magnificently.
An extraordinary performance from Benicio Del Toro anchors this long but gripping film based on a powerful true story.
A sprawling, epic look at the life of Che Guevara through the lense of Steven Soderbergh. Del Toro is brilliant in the lead.
October 27, 2011Super Reviewer
I should have hated this film. I feel like the legend of Che has become so distorted & romanticized, that whatever your cause, you can invoke the name of Che to further it. On top of this, every college student with access to a Hot Topic has donned a shirt with the figure's face on it, without the benefit of knowing
September 22, 2011Super Reviewer
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