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The Kite Runner Play Trailer

The Kite Runner (2007)

tomatometer

65

Average Rating: 6.4/10
Reviews Counted: 171
Fresh: 112 | Rotten: 59

Despite some fine performances, The Kite Runner is just shy of rendering the magic of the novel on to the big screen.

69

Average Rating: 6.5/10
Critic Reviews: 42
Fresh: 29 | Rotten: 13

Despite some fine performances, The Kite Runner is just shy of rendering the magic of the novel on to the big screen.

audience

85

liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 235,923

My Rating

Movie Info

Finding Neverland director Marc Forster adapts author Khaled Hosseini's critically acclaimed novel about two childhood best friends forever torn apart as their country is ravaged by endless war and bitter strife. As children, Amir (Khalid Abdalla) and Hassan were inseparable; their long days under azure Kabul skies often spent getting into innocent mischief or preparing for the highly anticipated kite-fighting tournament. When the day of the tournament arrives, however, a glorious victory is

PG-13,

Drama

David Benioff, Khaled Hosseini

Mar 25, 2008

$15.7M

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The Kite Runner Trailer & Photos

Critic Reviews for The Kite Runner

All Critics (176) | Top Critics (44) | Fresh (116) | Rotten (60) | DVD (21)

The Kite Runner is dramatically and visually sumptuous

January 3, 2008 Full Review Source: Film.com
Jonathan F. Richards
Film.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The film's belief in the power of redemption and its subtle assertion of the need for moral courage in personal (or political) conflict, is never allowed to get in the way of its boldly told, intelligent, informed and affecting story.

December 28, 2007 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A respectful adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's 2003 novel.

December 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune
Jeff Strickler
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The Kite Runner is earnest and sentimental and formulaic and obvious. Watching it, I could understand the fuss over Khaled Hosseini's bestselling novel, but the film didn't make me want to read it.

December 21, 2007
Rene Rodriguez
Miami Herald
Top Critic IconTop Critic

If The Kite Runner flies only to flutter and fall a bit, at least it flies for a while.

December 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Detroit News
Tom Long
Detroit News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The filmmakers go by the book in The Kite Runner, a literate, if occasionally listless adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's best-selling novel.

December 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press
John Monaghan
Detroit Free Press
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A remarkable story with tremendous human interest, about people we think we've figured out, but about whom we actually know next to nothing.

April 28, 2011 Full Review Source: East Bay Express
Kelly Vance
East Bay Express

Faked compassion, bland visuals, metaphors dropped like anvils

August 27, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion

Even though the movie is remarkably sentimental, it can be effectively touching, too. (Blu-ray Edition)

March 13, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis
John J. Puccio
Movie Metropolis

...a good but not classic movie of a good but not classic novel.

March 13, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis
John J. Puccio
Movie Metropolis

Entirely too epic for its own good.

September 2, 2008 Full Review Source: ReelzChannel.com
Heather Huntington
ReelzChannel.com Source: ReelzChannel.com

Best seller-based drama has harrowing moments.

July 16, 2008 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Cynthia Fuchs
Common Sense Media

Forster na synehizei na psahnei ti Hora toy Pote stin paramythenia Kampoyl toy protoy meroys, prin perasei sto deytero kommati tis istorias, opoy i prospatheia toy Afganoy metanasti na brei thesi sto Neo Kosmo kai bima na pei tis istories toy, ginetai syn

May 6, 2008 Full Review Source: Movies for the Masses
Joseph Proimakis
Movies for the Masses

Es un poco inevitable sentir que la película transcurre casi como un trámite, sin permitirle al espectador una aproximación mucho más sensible a la historia.

April 22, 2008 Full Review Source: Uruguay Total
Enrique Buchichio
Uruguay Total

Extras on the disc include a full length audio commentary by director Marc Forster, novel author Khaled Hosseini and screenwriter David Benioff.

April 9, 2008 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide
Brian Webster
Apollo Guide
View all critic reviews (176)

Audience Reviews for The Kite Runner

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The performances make this film, so the actors needed to be right on point, or this film wouldn't have been nearly as good as it is. Marc Forster and David Benioff have made a faithful adaption from the book, leaving out parts only necessary to the central story. The acting on display here is immensely powerful, as is the whole film. I was very pleased with the transition from book to screen, but the magic in the book was lost. It's not completely vanished, but it's not as prominent as it should be. The Kite Runner is a powerful, riveting, emotional film that is a faithful adaptation from the excellent novel.
May 5, 2012
Raymond Wieser
Raymond Wieser

Super Reviewer

This drama adopting a critically acclaimed novel tells the story of two boys growing up in the 1970s in Afghanistan and a tragic event that changes their friendship forever. Years later, one of them has to return to his crisis-ridden home country to find peace of mind. The film starts out pretty compelling, the story of the friendship finds an early highlight in a wonderfully filmed kite competition, portraying a realistic and respectful every day Afghan life before the Russian invasion. Once tragedy separates the two the film remains interesting but sticks to rather common paths: our protagonist leaves the country, gets married, loses his father. For some odd reason, even his return to a country that would consider him an enemy now never gets very exciting, not even in the eye of danger. Things always go oddly smoothly and while the story does touch you on a superficial emotional level, it never reaches deeper somehow. All that's well filmed, acted and results in a very entertaining film, though.
January 9, 2008
ironclad1609
Jens S.

Super Reviewer

The Kite Runner Quotes

View All
    1. Young Assef: Nothing is free.
    – Submitted by Yoke L (9 months ago)
    1. Rahim Khan: There is a way to be good again.
    – Submitted by Yoke L (9 months ago)
    1. Young Hassan: Why does he have to kill his wife? Why can't he just smell onions?
    – Submitted by Yale J (13 months ago)
    1. Young Hassan: For you, a thousand times
    – Submitted by Stephen Y (15 months ago)
    1. Baba Amir's Father: There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft... When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness.
    – Submitted by Chad E (22 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Drachenläufer (DE)
  • Les Cerfs-volants de Kaboul (FR)
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