1492: Conquest of Paradise

Name: 1492: Conquest of Paradise
Genre: Adventure, Biography, Drama, History
Released: October 9, 1992
Duration: 154 min
Rating: 47
Cast: Ángela Molina, Armand Assante, Fernando Rey, Frank Langella, Gérard Depardieu

1992

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Ratings

See All

6.3

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

6.3	Your Score
6.3	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

1492: Conquest Of Paradise (International Trailer)

Now Playing: 1492: Conquest Of Paradise (International Trailer)

Movie Details & Credits

Paramount Pictures | Release Date: October 9, 1992 | PG-13

Starring: Ángela Molina, Armand Assante, Fernando Rey, Frank Langella, Gérard Depardieu, Kevin Dunn, Loren Dean, Michael Wincott, Sigourney Weaver, Tchéky Karyo

Summary: Christopher Columbus' discovery of the Americas and the effect this has on the indigenous people.

Director: Ridley Scott

Genre(s): Adventure, Biography, Drama, History

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 154 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

Empire Philip Thomas

Flawed, certainly, but by no means the horror-show its paltry box-office performance would suggest. Read full review

Hal Lipper

The movie's pageantry and visual grandeur are its most impressive elements, along with Depardieu's command as Columbus. [09 Oct 1992, p.20]

Jeff Shannon

Scott and Bosch deserve credit for honoring the moral complexities and consequences of Columbus's conquests, but in trying to cram so much into a lavishly mainstream film, they've lost the impact of an adventure that is perhaps best relived in documentaries. [09 Oct 1992, p.3]

Mike Clark

One thrilling shot of land's discovery - so good it's reprised at the end - hints at what might have been. But despite production values that advertise a first-class journey, 1492 is a long haul in steerage. [09 Oct 1992, p.8D]

Hal Hinson

To director Scott and screenwriter Roselyne Bosch, the atrocities against the natives came about not as a product of evil but through Columbus's ineptitude as a political leader. Still, this failure -- and his frustration over never actually reaching mainland America -- renders him a tragic figure. Though he was the dreamer and pioneer who first set foot in the New World and brought treasures and territory to Spain, he died all but forgotten. The movie, alas, for all its wondrous beauty, is destined to suffer a similar fate. Read full review

Mick LaSalle

The film takes a bold, intelligent approach to the explorer's story, providing scenes and images that are not to be forgotten. Then, midway into its journey, the movie sails right off the edge of the universe. [09 Oct 1992, p.C1]

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

A lumbering journey that conveys none of the joy or mystery of exploration. Star Gerard Depardieu's unintelligible line readings and director Ridley Scott's murky mise-en-scene make it a hard film to hear and see, let alone like. Read full review

SEE ALL 21 REVIEWS

Write a Review

User Reviews

Broyax

Apr 27, 2023

Une grosse production qui ne lésine pas sur les moyens et qui ne fait sans doute pas dans la finesse… on peut lui reprocher à juste titre d’en faire un peu trop dans le panégyrique, dans les effets de manches et de confondre « épique » avec « »naïveté » »… en somme un certain manque deUne grosse production qui ne lésine pas sur les moyens et qui ne fait sans doute pas dans la finesse… on peut lui reprocher à juste titre d’en faire un peu trop dans le panégyrique, dans les effets de manches et de confondre « épique » avec « »naïveté » »… en somme un certain manque de recul mêlé à quelques atermoiements ici et là… sans compter quelques longueurs tout de même !

Mais « 1492 » reste un pour autant un très beau film, « beau » au sens strict d’ailleurs : c’est à cet égard le plus beau film de Ridley Scott après Blade Runner. Une esthétique soignée, une photographie très étudiée.. Et bien entendu, notre super Depardieu (inter)national est complètement habité par le rôle et la musique fabuleuse et majestueuse de Vangelis remet une couche à l’envoûtement général qu’on ne refuse pas. Non pas un chef-d’oeuvre le « 1492 »… mais un coup de coeur, certainement !… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

FilipeNeto

Jun 23, 2018

This film seeks to show the journey in which Christopher Columbus allegedly discovered America. About this there is a lot of historical controversy and its very difficult to be sure if the true discoverer was him, Amerigo Vespucci or the Portuguese João Vaz Corte-Real (who seems to haveThis film seeks to show the journey in which Christopher Columbus allegedly discovered America. About this there is a lot of historical controversy and its very difficult to be sure if the true discoverer was him, Amerigo Vespucci or the Portuguese João Vaz Corte-Real (who seems to have explored the Canadian coast twenty years before Columbus's voyage). There are also doubts about the origins of Columbus. Some think he was Castilian and not Italian, others think he was from Sardinia, others claim that he was born in Portugal. But the film does not explore these controversies, remaining faithful to the canonical version of the facts: a Genoese navigator who discovers America to Castile. But even so the film makes mistakes. Columbus was an adventurer and not a man in search of a dream, and the Castilian kings only allowed themselves to finance him because they had information that already had given as probable the existence of new lands in the region that Columbus wanted to explore. Thus, the navigator died believing that he had arrived in Asia and only later navigation's determined to be a new continent. Everything I've said here throws out some ideas of the film and proves that the writer made a serious mistake by completely ignoring the navigator's travel diaries and basic facts of his biography, not restraining himself from inventing when he pleased, under the argument of creative freedom that, even in a movie, should not justify all that the screenwriter invents. Okay, it's a movie and not a documentary, but if it's a historical fact there should still be some rigor in the way it's portrayed. The interpretation of Depardieu is not bad, but the accent was something that he messed up a bit. The way the Indians were portrayed also seems incorrect and stereotyped. Even so, the film is worth it because its cinematically beautiful, has almost epic scenes and depicts very well the effort and daring of those who ventured across the seas. One thing I cannot fail to point out: the extraordinary soundtrack of Vangelis, which has become an icon of music for cinema.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

drecool95

Aug 18, 2022

Historically inaccurate, terrible acting, terrible direction, terrible script. What an embarrassment coming from a director as good as Ridley Scott.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

SEE ALL 3 REVIEWS