Che
IFC Films | Release Date: December 12, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
7
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The labor applied to Che is apparent, but it would be wrong to characterize the movie as laborious the way it was in, say, 2006's "The Good German," where Soderbergh took great pains to re-create 1940s Hollywood wartime glamour. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Benicio Del Toro, one of the film's producers, gives a heroic performance, not least because it's self-effacing. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Che is Soderbergh's most interesting film in years, defiantly eccentric and absorbing at its best. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
As political theater, Che moves from faith to impotence, which is certainly a valid reading of Communism in the 20th century. Yet as drama, that makes the second half of the film borderline deadly. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesSheri Linden
The political realities of his legacy can be endlessly debated, but in this flawed work of austere beauty, the logistics of war and the language of revolution give way to something greater, a struggle that may be defined by politics but can't be contained by it. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
What this slow-moving but fascinating two-part portrait does do is hunker down in the jungles and mountains of Cuba and (in the second part) Bolivia, capturing in keen, almost Zen-like detail the trudging and trekking, the recruiting and strategizing, the fighting and the philosophizing. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Leaving aside politics, it's quite an achievement in art. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Che looks dazzling, whether the camera is weaving through a battle or trying to bore into Che's haunted soul. Del Toro stands up to Soderbergh's relentless scrutiny. As for the movie, it's a reward to audiences eager to break from the play-it-safe pack. Game on. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
I was never bored, in four hours-plus. Whether or not it ends up becoming a great film (or films), this is miles and miles beyond anything I thought Soderbergh could create from this material. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
It's all about Guevara's education as a revolutionary and his development as a leader in the jungles and in battle. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
In both halves, Soderbergh emphasizes observation over ideology with an eye toward the mundane details of life on the front lines of a revolution. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterPeter Brunette
If this earnest, two-part biopic with a total running time of 268 minutes sometimes lacks cinematic flair, the straight-ahead, chronologically-driven film will inform and, to a somewhat lesser extent, excite viewers everywhere. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Mr. Soderbergh once again offers a master class in filmmaking. As history, though, Che is finally not epic but romance. It takes great care to be true to the factual record, but it is, nonetheless, a fairy tale. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Che is a mass of contradictions, perhaps like the iconic revolutionary himself. Read full review
80
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Every Bolivian sequence has its Cuban parallel, which is why Che's two parts are best seen together. Guerrilla may be the more realized of the two--and could certainly stand on its own--but it is only comprehensible in the light of The Argentine. Elevating Guerrilla to tragedy, The Argentine puts some hope in hopelessness--and even in history. Read full review
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