Hotel Rwanda
United Artists | Release Date: December 22, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
79
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews
Positive:
37
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Emerges as an African version of "Schindler's List." Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Deep movie emotions for me usually come not when the characters are sad, but when they are good. You will see what I mean. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
An extraordinary and effective film. Read full review
100
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Enraging and enthralling. Read full review
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Several times, Hotel Rwanda teeters on the edge of making a unique, visionary statement about our times, but can't quite do it. Too bad. If it could have pulled itself together in one brilliant scene, this may have been a great movie, instead of just a very good one. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
Cheadle impressively carries the entire picture, delivering the kind of note-perfect performance that's absolutely deserving of Oscar consideration. Read full review
90
The New YorkerDavid Denby
The film turns into a triumph for Don Cheadle, who never steps outside the character for emotional grandstanding or easy moralism. Read full review
90
TimeRichard Schickel
It is a powerful portrait of a slightly befuddled man who, when inhuman demands were placed on him, found within himself an unexpected response. Read full review
90
SalonCharles Taylor
A startlingly effective and upsetting political melodrama. Read full review
90
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Magnificent. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
This role could represent a career performance for Cheadle, whose forceful and multi-dimensional portrayal keeps Hotel Rwanda at a consistently high level. Read full review
88
New York PostLou Lumenick
One of the year's best. Read full review
88
PremiereGlenn Kenny
By turns harrowing and stirring, it’s a shame-inducing history lesson that never feels like a lecture. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Not a striking film visually. It's deliberately plain looking, focused on the appalling events with an almost documentary immediacy. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
A gut-punch of a drama. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
An articulate plea to Westerners not to repeat these terrible sins of omission. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
Cheadle's performance elevates Hotel Rwanda, making it a film that does justice to the tragedy it commemorates. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyErnest Hardy
Hotel Rwanda, based on real lives and events, aims unequivocally to break your heart. Read full review
80
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Ultimately, one's reservations are overwhelmed by the story's urgency; it's impossible not to be shattered. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Hotel Rwanda isn't impersonal, even though it only hints at the story's full horror. It's stunning.
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Cheadle's quiet, superbly modulated performance as an ordinary man driven to heroism by hellish events reminds us that the slogan "no justice, no peace" has a private as well as a public dimension. Read full review
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
Cheadle is extraordinary. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverJean Oppenheimer
Cheadle, always a fine actor, is outstanding here--an almost willfully naive yet uncommonly decent man who sees civilization crashing and burning around him yet who, almost against his own better judgment, refuses to give in to it. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
It sweeps over you with blunt, unequivocal conviction. Read full review
80
EmpireDan Jolin
It's a weighty message movie, but it's a message worth delivering – and the cast's delivery is flawless. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Scrappy, powerful, and shocking. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
George has been criticized for simplifying a complex story into an African "Schindler's List." But despite flaws in execution, this is a film of rare courage and imperishable heart. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
In condensing Rusesabagina's story, George has undoubtedly overstated the specific dramatic moments; the movie has more cliff-hangers than the "Indiana Jones" series. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
All we can do is hope that films such as Hotel Rwanda remind us all -- moviegoer and politician -- of the terrible cost of doing nothing. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Throughout the film, Cheadle's eyes are constantly scanning his environment for opportunities or anything that may be amiss. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
I wish Hotel Rwanda felt like something more than a very, very good TV movie. Read full review
70
VarietyScott Foundas
The genocide of some one million Rwandan Tutsis by their Hutu neighbors remains a disgraceful and too-little-known episode in recent world history. Alas, Terry George's ineffectual Hotel Rwanda only partly rectifies that problem, taking what ought to have been a complex, powerful inquiry and simplifying it to a story about the resilience of the human spirit. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
It's a gut-twisting story handled, largely and predictably, with asbestos mitts. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
The story it tells is such a wrenching one it cannot help but move us, especially when the performance of a lifetime by Don Cheadle is added to the mix. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen Holden
A political thriller based on fact that hammers every button on the emotional console. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
The Rwandan genocide was one of the most shameful marks on Bill Clinton's presidency, but for all the film's powerful images, George stops short of the forceful political statement that Rusesabagina's story demands. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
It's a great part for a great actor and Cheadle does a magnificent job turning this living legend back into flawed, flesh-and-blood reality. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
A strange history lesson that leaves us more overlectured than properly overwhelmed. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The subject is crucially important, but the movie dilutes its impact with by-the-numbers filmmaking, and Cheadle's one-note performance displays few of his acting gifts. Read full review
40
Film ThreatPhil Hall
The film presents the Rwandans in the worst possible way: venal, corrupt, vicious, stupid, barbaric and completely incapable of governing themselves. Honestly, I've seen more intelligent and sympathetic depictions of Africans in Tarzan movies. Read full review
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