Mountain Patrol
IDP Distribution | Release Date: April 14, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
77
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
Filmed in long, quiet takes across gorgeous, all-but-empty landscapes, Mountain Patrol feels more like Gus Van Sant's "Gerry" than like the cops-and-robbers thriller its plotline suggests. Read full review
90
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Extraordinary on many levels...because Mountain Patrol instead becomes what might be the first Chinese conservationist spaghetti western ever made. Read full review
90
NewsweekDavid Ansen
This is a one-of-a-kind action flick: a tale of triumph tinged at every moment with tragedy. Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
A fascinating film that also benefits greatly from the stunning scenery of the Tibetan plateau and from a quicksand scene that will leave you gasping. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
This largely non-verbal picture uses only as many words (spoken in Mandarin and Tibetan, with English subtitles) as necessary, and draws you in as surely as one of his characters, in an amazing sequence, is drawn into. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
What is remarkable is that this film is based on a true story, and filmed on the actual locations. These are hard, violent men, risking their lives to save an animal species. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Mountain Patrol is breathtakingly beautiful, breathtakingly brutal and simply breathtaking. Read full review
80
VarietyRussell Edwards
Exquisite to behold and with a stimulating storyline that mixes guns with ecological consciousness, picture is a considerable change of pace for director Lu Chuan. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
Mountain Patrol: Kekexili is sometimes slow going, yet it builds in power as nature begins to take its toll on the patrol, and its cumulative effects are haunting. Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Films about environmental catastrophes tend to wax preachy, putting pedagogy and scolding above art. This one, for all its sorrow and the throb of righteous anger it provokes (only about 50,000 antelopes remain), is more than anything a work of creative imagination. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
These kinds of merciless conditions lead to a culture that is stoic about life and death and a story that will surprise you by its willingness to embrace that unsentimental natural world. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterRichard James Havis
It is a grimly exciting film that is picturesque and brutal by turns. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Kekexili is about how human beings, when passionate about something, can put everything, including their lives, at risk for a cause. Read full review
75
PremiereEthan Alter
The result is a film that's almost unremittingly bleak, but also consistently compelling. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
The stunning adventure Mountain Patrol: Kekexili is like a John Ford western set, not in the master's beloved Monument Valley, but in remotest China. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen Johnson
Other than raising awareness for endangered wildlife, Mountain Patrol: Kekexili doesn't have anything profound to say, but it has a lot to show. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Never has a movie so soberingly made the fight to save life and the struggle to hold on to it seem so futile. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
For all of its well-schooled orthodoxy and visual splendor, Kekexili remains somewhat off-kilter--the characters' passionate wartime camaraderie and doomed sense of martyrdom aren't quite reflected in the facts of volunteer service and devotion to a balanced ecosystem. Read full review
70
Film ThreatDaniel Wible
Ultimately a complex meditation on this moral conundrum, a raw tale of survival against impossible odds, and a dashing adventure yarn all in one. Read full review
70
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
Ford would probably have grumbled about some things in this picture--some moments of confusion about who is who--but he might have been pleased to see that his influence, so marked in many countries' films, had reached China and Tibet. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
In all that empty space, the film gets a bit lost. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
An intriguing export with crossover appeal. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
The altitude, extreme cold, quicksand, and crushing poverty are potent dramatic elements, but of course there's no mention of China's complicity in the area's economic ills; instead writer-director Lu Chuan frames the story as a showdown between the head ranger and the leader of the poachers. Read full review
More From This Movie

77 Critic Reviews

7.8 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL