

You might also like
Where to watch
Show all servicesQuest for Fire Photos
Movie Info
Cast & Crew
Naoh
Ika
Amoukar
Gaw
Rouka
The Ulam Tribe
News & Interviews for Quest for Fire
Critic Reviews for Quest for Fire
All Critics (22) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (19) | Rotten (3)
-
Quest for Fire contains a uniqueness rarely seen in the homogenous product of today's film industry.
October 22, 2018 | Full Review… -
An engaging prehistoric yarn that happily never degenerates into a club and lion skin spinoff of Star Wars and resolutely refuses to bludgeon the viewer with facile or gratuitous effects.
March 26, 2009 | Full Review… -
Quest for Fire boldly states its claims to dance along the abyss of the ridiculous.
June 24, 2006 | Full Review… -
These characters and their quest began to grow on me, and by the time the movie was over I cared very much about how their lives would turn out.
October 23, 2004 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review… -
''Quest for Fire'' is more than just a hugely enterprising science lesson, although it certainly is that. It's also a touching, funny and suspenseful drama about prehumans.
August 30, 2004 | Rating: 5/5 -
Quest For Fire is thrilling and awesome in its individual and collective achievements.
May 27, 2020 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review…
Audience Reviews for Quest for Fire
-
Jan 14, 2013Visually, "Quest for Fire" is an ugly film, and that's not just because all that it captures are filthy Neanderthals. The cinematography is drab and muddled and the idea of shot composition seems to have been ignored almost entirely. Whether this technique is intentional or not is beside the point; it makes the movie hard to watch. It's cool that there's an actual movie about cavemen and their discovery of fire, but it's hard to make unintelligent characters like these interesting or even close to likable. The locations are beautiful and the makeup is amazing, but I personally don't find much of interest in "Quest of Fire." It's a respectable work that I imagine some will grow to love; I'm just not one of those people.Stephen E Super Reviewer
-
Dec 06, 2011This is one of the coolest, most interesting, and unique films that I've seen in quite some time, possibly (maybe) ever. To simply, this is a feature length version of the "Dawn of Man" segment from 2001: A Space Odyssey. It takes places (likely) in what is now Europe, only 80,000 years in the past. The main story follows a trio of neanderthal tribesman tasked with going on a journey to find fire and bring it back to their tribe after the fire that they had been using and protecting tragically gets extinguished. This would all be simpler if they were more advanced and could make the fire themselves, but at least they're more developed than one of the other tribes depicted in the film. The story is quite simple, but there's so much more to it than that. Besides being a basic man versus nature survival story, it's also very human and deep, and traces the development of man into a less primitive state of being. Four tribes are depicted in the film, all of them in various stages of development, and each with their own set of values, culture, and language or communication abilities. The story starts out as interesting, and only gets even more so from there as the trio's journey takes them to places that alter their world forever. Yes, you do have to suspend disbelief, and sometimes the material comes off as a bit hokey, but you actually really care about the characters, and are just as delighted as they are when they make new discoveries, even if it is something as simple as learning the concept of laughter. This is a really fascinating film, and it feels like a pretty high water mark to me. Some of it got a little slow for me in a couple of places, but that aside, there's not much (that I'm personally aware of) wrong with it. I thought it was pretty realistic, and well researched, and I liked that it was rather artsy and that the film had no narration (outside of an opening crawl) or real language or subtitles, forcing the viewer to follow things solely based on music cues, facial expressions, actions, and body language. As far as acting goes, it's pretty damn good. This was probably more challenging than it might seem, but everyone does a wonderful job. At the time, none of the cast were known, but that has changed for two of them: Ron Perlman and Rae Dawn Chong. The makeup and effects are pretty decent, though I think Perlman might have been too authentic (sorry bud, I love you and your unique look, but that's probably why the types of roles you get are generally pretty limited. All in all, this is some tremendous stuff, and it's definitely great at provoking thought and discussion. Unfortunately I don't think some people would be mature enough to handle this without giggling, and it's not for all tastes anyway, but I do think it's one that everyone should see.Chris W Super Reviewer
-
Sep 06, 2010A stupid artsy type of movie without any real dialogue or story. I didn't get it! I hate this movie, and I do not recommend seeing it.Aj V Super Reviewer
-
Sep 04, 2008The sole "prehistoric movie" to assemble the human instinct on species still immature of their physical identity.Warriors,mammals,united or separated,it's a pretty engaging motion picture by Annaud,so don't even bother watching Emmerich's blockbuster atrocity.Dimitris S Super Reviewer
Quest for Fire Quotes
There are no approved quotes yet for this movie.
Movie & TV guides
About Tomatometer
The percentage of Approved Tomatometer Critics who have given this movie a positive review
About Audience Score
The percentage of users who rated this 3.5 stars or higher.
Verified