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A Private War honors its real-life subject with a sober appraisal of the sacrifices required of journalists on the front lines - and career-best work by Rosamund Pike.
All Critics (125) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (112) | Rotten (13)
At a time when pressured media budgets are conspiring, with the general preference for escapism over reality, to threaten war reporting's very existence, A Private War unflinchingly reminds us of its value. Feb 17, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
At a time when pressured media budgets are conspiring, with the general preference for escapism over reality, to threaten war reporting's very existence, A Private War unflinchingly reminds us of its value.
Matthew Norman
A Private War is at its best when it focuses on tension and danger in the field... These scenes land us in the moment unlike much of the more conventional human drama [director Matthew] Heineman builds elsewhere. Feb 13, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
A Private War is at its best when it focuses on tension and danger in the field... These scenes land us in the moment unlike much of the more conventional human drama [director Matthew] Heineman builds elsewhere.
Elena Lazic
I admired A Private War for its tough, forthright, pro-journalist attitude. Feb 13, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
I admired A Private War for its tough, forthright, pro-journalist attitude.
Peter Bradshaw
It's a powerful but clear-eyed acknowledgment of the importance of journalism. Nov 16, 2018 | Full Review…
It's a powerful but clear-eyed acknowledgment of the importance of journalism.
Johanna Schneller
While it occasionally pulls away from Colvin to let the nightmarish inhumanity of war provide power and feeling, it all too often relies on juiced-up expressions of humanist heroism. Nov 16, 2018 | Rating: 1/5 | Full Review…
While it occasionally pulls away from Colvin to let the nightmarish inhumanity of war provide power and feeling, it all too often relies on juiced-up expressions of humanist heroism.
Matthew Lickona
"A Private War" doesn't ask you to understand the politics of war, only the human side. And it shows the toll war takes on people's souls, most of which it never gives back. Nov 15, 2018 | Rating: A- | Full Review…
"A Private War" doesn't ask you to understand the politics of war, only the human side. And it shows the toll war takes on people's souls, most of which it never gives back.
Adam Graham
A Private War serves as a potent reminder of the effort expended by correspondents to illuminate, inform and bear witness to man-made catastrophes. Apr 15, 2019 | Rating: 8/10 | Full Review…
A Private War serves as a potent reminder of the effort expended by correspondents to illuminate, inform and bear witness to man-made catastrophes.
Julie Crawford
A Private War is a piercing plea championing empathy, asking us to not turn a blind eye to the abject suffering of countless faceless civilians. Mar 11, 2019 | Full Review…
A Private War is a piercing plea championing empathy, asking us to not turn a blind eye to the abject suffering of countless faceless civilians.
Poulomi Das
It's clear Marie Colvin deserves a biopic, but this first dramatic feature by documentary filmmaker Matthew Heineman feels too by-the-numbers to do her justice. Mar 1, 2019 | Rating: 2.5/5 | Full Review…
It's clear Marie Colvin deserves a biopic, but this first dramatic feature by documentary filmmaker Matthew Heineman feels too by-the-numbers to do her justice.
Jorge Castillo
Pike certainly looks and acts the part, even if the depiction of the journalist's trade tends towards the cliched. Feb 21, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
Pike certainly looks and acts the part, even if the depiction of the journalist's trade tends towards the cliched.
Alison Rowat
Poor, gifted Rosamund Pike is persuaded to play the American-born Sunday Times journo at full throttle, when half-throttle would be a nice occasional variant. Feb 20, 2019 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…
Poor, gifted Rosamund Pike is persuaded to play the American-born Sunday Times journo at full throttle, when half-throttle would be a nice occasional variant.
Nigel Andrews
The film is an inspiring tribute to a significant figure in journalism. Feb 19, 2019 | Rating: 3.5/5 | Full Review…
The film is an inspiring tribute to a significant figure in journalism.
Monica Reid
Pike is great, but the movie never coalesces around a coherent idea of who Colvin really was outside of vague ponderings about her wanting to do good and something about trauma. One feels that the real Colvin deserved something better.
Super Reviewer
A PRIVATE WAR (3 1/2 Stars) It's nice to see a fierce woman at the center of the familiar journalist in a war zone story, and Rosamund Pike's unsparingly aggressive performance as Marie Colvin, a BBC correspondent who lost an eye and wore a patch, makes her a "Fifth Estate Pirate" for the ages. This true portrayal of a woman whose outrage led her into deadly conflicts may seem like a lot of typing at computer screens, smoking, and fighting with editors to let her get into increasingly dangerous situations, but this urgently directed film wants to shake us out of our selfie-culture complacency and ask ourselves if we would be anywhere as ballsy and brave as Marie. Jamie Dornan surprises with an earthy, edgy performance as her photographer, reminding us that he has more than 50 shades to him. It's an imperfect film, episodic but impactful, but Pike is the real show, literally and figuratively exposing us to a woman whose imperfections were matched by her passion and heroism.
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