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Kon Tiki Play Trailer Get Showtimes

Kon Tiki (2013)

tomatometer

76

Average Rating: 6.9/10
Reviews Counted: 38
Fresh: 29 | Rotten: 9

A well-crafted retelling of an epic true story, Kon Tiki is a throwback to old-school adventure filmmaking that's exciting and entertaining in spite of its by-the-book plotting.

75

Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 16
Fresh: 12 | Rotten: 4

A well-crafted retelling of an epic true story, Kon Tiki is a throwback to old-school adventure filmmaking that's exciting and entertaining in spite of its by-the-book plotting.

audience

78

liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 2,983

My Rating

Movie Info

Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl crossed the Pacific ocean in a balsa wood raft in 1947, together with five men, to prove that South Americans already back in pre-Columbian times could have crossed the sea and settle on Polynesian islands. After gathering financing for the trip with loans and donations, they set off on an epic 101 day-long journey across 8,000 kilometers, all while the world was watching. KON-TIKI tells about the origin of Heyerdahl's idea and the events surrounding the group's

PG-13,

Drama

,

Petter Skavlan

$0.1M

The Weinstein Company - Official Site External Icon

Cast

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All Critics (38) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (29) | Rotten (9)

The characters don't register as much more than genre archetypes, but that doesn't spoil the fun, since the filmmakers re-create the journey in such vivid detail.

May 3, 2013 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Most everyone loves a ripping good sea yarn, so why doesn't Kon-Tiki rip?

May 3, 2013 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail
Globe and Mail
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Part history lesson, part classic adventure tale and often stunning to watch.

May 2, 2013 Full Review Source: Toronto Star
Toronto Star
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"Kon-Tiki" is stalwart and uplifting and there are passing moments of wonder.

May 2, 2013 Full Review Source: Boston Globe
Boston Globe
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Unfortunately, sharks and whales aren't the stars of the film, so the movie is a pretty humdrum affair when it focuses on humans, even when actors are playing characters based on real people.

May 2, 2013 Full Review Source: Arizona Republic
Arizona Republic
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The film harks back to the era of "Swiss Family Robinson," when films were like well-made hospital beds, all four corners neatly tucked.

May 2, 2013 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Go on this journey.

May 3, 2013 Full Review Source: Boston Herald
Boston Herald

Kon-Tiki has the look and feel of a big, bracing adventure. It skirts many of the emotional issues in favor of high adventure with hungry sharks and monster storms.

May 2, 2013 Full Review Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com
Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com

The voyage features some spectacularly exciting encounters with wildlife, difficult negotiations among the men and one stunning vista after another of sunny, blue gorgeousness.

May 2, 2013 Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press
St. Paul Pioneer Press

An old fashioned true life adventure yarn, old fashioned in all the best ways.

April 30, 2013 Full Review Source: Movie Nation
Movie Nation

Hagen's performance shows an unblinking determination that makes every near-death moment more unpredictable.

April 26, 2013 Full Review Source: Paste Magazine
Paste Magazine

Handsomely produced but indifferently scripted account of one of the most legendary sea voyages.

April 26, 2013 Full Review Source: Film Journal International
Film Journal International

The visual effects are seamless and, in one key scene, awe-inspiring-all the more impressive for having been executed on a modest budget.

April 26, 2013 Full Review Source: Leonard Maltin's Picks
Leonard Maltin's Picks

Though the modern "Kon-Tiki" is a dramatization of true events, these events feel real as we experience the dangers, frustrations and elations of the crew.

April 25, 2013 Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews
Reeling Reviews

the directors feel at once enamored and burdened by the impossibility of the narrative, and spend nearly two hours trying to convince the audience it all really happened

April 25, 2013 Full Review Source: Film Racket
Film Racket

Audience Reviews for Kon Tiki

What would the world be without strongly determined adventurers like Thor Heyerdahl? The Norwegian, whose theory of a kinship between the peoples of South America and Polynesia, would take form of a 101 day-long voyage across the mighty Pacific Ocean. On a raft made of balsa wood no less. All to prove his hypothesis.

Ambitions are grand, with Heyerdahl as well as the film-makers, whose portrayal of his epic derring-do would result in the most expensive Norwegian picture to date. And it certainly shows, because there's not a frame that doesn't impress with its lavishly high production values.

Obstinate and uncompromising, it's difficult not to admire how Heyerdahl, despite a subject for ridicule and failing support, holds his optimism all the way through. Of course, a journey of this nature, where our main character and five other men share a small space together over an unpredictable ocean, is a hotbed for drama. Sumptuous as well as small-scale such, with tensions between the men, bloodthirsty sharks and the odd tempest or two.
In the association's most positive sense, my thoughts gravitated towards Jaws and Ang Lee's Life of Pi. Perhaps not fully as magical as these two films, but common denominators like well-developed characters and eye-catching special effects probably give the Norwegians reason enough to be proud of this nearly seamless tour-de-force.

Like many Swedish action films, however, it suffers a tad from the "Hollywood-wannabe"-syndrome. Mainly in the introduction, so it's nothing that gnaws in the long run, but it should be mentioned that it - particularly in the English-speaking parts - has its marginally pretentious moments. A little more wind in the sails wouldn't have hurt either, as the suspense is intermittently broken by a slow-going lull.

That the year is 1947 becomes very evident in the film's attribute as a character study. Each and every individual with their distinctive personality, whereof some have been strongly affected by the foregoing war. In triumph and adversity, we touch upon their souls, with Heyerdahl as the glue who enthusiastically keeps them together.

His theory may now have been disproved by the help of modern genetics, but that it's a life achievement worthy of the history books - as well as a film escapade deserving of its international kudos - remain as true as the ocean is blue.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mikes-Movie-Reviews/281824101875153?ref=hl
September 8, 2012
CloudStrife84
Mike S

Super Reviewer

An engaging odyssey with a stunning cinematography that uses an appropriate large depth of field to efficiently explore the vastness of the high sea. Also, the characters are complex and well defined in their motivations, in a story that can also be very tense.
January 16, 2013
blacksheepboy

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • Kon-Tiki (DE)
  • Kon-Tiki (UK)
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