7 Days in Entebbe
Bioscop | Release Date: March 16, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
21
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyMar 15, 2018
The film comes to crackling life during the planning and climactic execution of the raid. And Padilha, the Brazilian director behind 2007’s "Elite Squad," knows how to stage these white-knuckle sequences, especially when he cuts back and forth between the on-the-ground tactical assault and a modern dance performance featuring one of the commando’s girlfriends. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshMar 15, 2018
The story is larger than life. Padilha brings a frenetic, authentic style and flair to this depiction and never loses sight of its larger messages and themes. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMar 15, 2018
The dance itself makes a much more powerful, and ultimately poetic, point. On the most superficial level, it serves as a blunt metaphor for the elaborate choreography of the rescue operation, which entailed its own intense rehearsals, undertaken in a scale mock-up of the Entebbe airport that had been re-created back in Israel. Read full review
72
Paste MagazineOktay Ege Kozak Mar 14, 2018
With a deft docudrama approach (that doesn’t overdo the usual extra-shaky handheld camera and overtly grainy visual tone), Padilha shows a commendable technical control over that rare movie that could have benefitted from being much longer. Read full review
65
TheWrapBen CrollFeb 23, 2018
The ultimate success of 7 Days in Entebbe varies from scene to scene, and even more from actor to actor. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Johanna SchnellerMar 15, 2018
Padilha is trying something noble here: to give every side its due. Unfortunately, he gives us a lesson in moral complexity instead of a movie. Read full review
60
CineVueZoe MargolisMay 12, 2018
The art direction, cinematography and costume design are superb. Read full review
60
Screen DailyWendy IdeFeb 23, 2018
Although much of the film is effectively claustrophobic, it is too bogged down by exposition to fully take off. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyMar 14, 2018
Lacking both the exploitation-movie claustrophobic urgency of Golan’s "Operation Thunderbolt" and the Irwin Allen-disaster-film factor of the Irvin Kershner-directed NBC version, "Raid On Entebbe," 7 Days instead goes for businesslike professionalism. Read full review
58
The PlaylistBradley WarrenFeb 23, 2018
There is a more polemic, thought-provoking work somewhere in 7 Days in Entebbe, held hostage by its commercial appeal. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinMar 19, 2018
It muddles what might have been a fascinating alternate — i.e., downbeat — take on one of Israel’s most-acclaimed military operations. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireMar 16, 2018
Weirdly sluggish and dull. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMar 16, 2018
Movies go bad in all kinds of ways, but in 7 Days in Entebbe the filmmakers found a brand-new way for their movie to commit suicide. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTom RussoMar 15, 2018
A serviceable thriller that might have been something more. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonMar 15, 2018
Based on true events, 7 Days in Entebbe pulls off the difficult trick of making terrorism boring. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 15, 2018
An honorable, evenhanded but curiously flat interpretation of events. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenMar 15, 2018
The blending of the realistic elements such as the planning and preparations for the raid with the more surreal aspects of the picture feels forced and awkward. In real life, the raid was an astonishing success, but the movie is ultimately a failure. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMar 14, 2018
What should unfold like an unsettling chapter in a long, tragic story — or a tale of cruelty and heroism — feels more like an old TV show. Everybody is going through the motions. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 14, 2018
[A] disappointingly listless thriller, in which at least four of the titular seven days feel like place-holders, with everyone holding their positions and regurgitating the same concerns and regrets and debates. Read full review
50
IndieWireDavid EhrlichFeb 23, 2018
When all the dust settles, we’re left right where we started, and with nothing to show for it but a fleeting reminder that peace is impossible without negotiation. It’s a lesson that history has failed to teach us, filtered through a movie that doesn’t understand why. Read full review
40
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMay 12, 2018
The film’s determination to remain politically even-handed robs much of the drama of any sense of urgency or purpose. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMar 16, 2018
You won't feel like a hostage watching it. But don't be surprised if you feel a little as if you're doing homework. Read full review
40
UproxxKeith PhippsMar 16, 2018
In retelling a story whose political implications could still start a screaming match decades later, it takes a mushy approach seemingly determined to offend no one, or at least offend no one all that much or for very long. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 15, 2018
There is an engrossing, important story at the heart of 7 Days in Entebbe. Unfortunately, it only shows up intermittently. Read full review
40
VarietyJessica KiangFeb 23, 2018
A distinct air of staleness permeates the whole enterprise — even the palette is brown as an old biscuit, and Rodrigo Amarante’s minimal score is so politely low in the mix that it’s hardly even there. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyFeb 23, 2018
It should be a pulse-racing account of knife-edge real-life conflict and valiant heroics, full of needling political questions. Instead it's merely another slack thriller with underdeveloped characters and sputtering dramatic momentum. Read full review
40
The GuardianJonathan RomneyFeb 23, 2018
“Surprise and speed is the key,” someone comments at one point; the only surprise is how unspeedy and unsurprising this project turned out to be. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 16, 2018
7 Days in Entebbe is a blasé stroll through a desperate and harrowing affair, inspiring more boredom than fear and utterly lacking in suspense. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineSteve MacfarlaneFeb 23, 2018
The conflation of historical complexities makes for cheap pathos throughout, complete with weeping mothers and the seemingly endless dredging up of the terrorists' obvious moral equivalence. Read full review
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