Paradise Now
Warner Independent Pictures (WIP) | Release Date: October 28, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
27
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Of all the shocks in the riveting and timely political thriller Paradise Now, the most unsettling may be the dignity bestowed on a pair of prospective Palestinian suicide bombers. Read full review
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
It's a volatile subject and Abu-Assad's thoughtful thriller stokes the debate. Read full review
90
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Along the way, Paradise Now sustains a mood of breathless suspense. Politics aside, the movie is a superior thriller whose shrewdly inserted plot twists and emotional wrinkles are calculated to put your heart in your throat and keep it there. Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
A thoughtful, unsparing look at a controversial subject: suicide bombing. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The film is better than the recent "The War Within," which tried for the same things, but ultimately, and perhaps unavoidably, we are left face to face with the unknowable. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Abu-Assad, who made the lovely 2002 film "Rana's Wedding," is a far more gifted observer of the everyday than he is an action director, which is why, in Paradise Now, he productively sidetracks into a persuasive and often very funny portrait of the irrationalities of life under occupation. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
A powerful, poignant, provocative drama, it gets its strength from its dispassion, from an uncompromising determination to explain rather than justify or condemn, to put a human face on incomprehensible acts. Read full review
80
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
Even though no reasonably well-informed viewer will learn much factual information from the picture, it grips; it even torments, because it lets us move and breathe and shiver and resolve with two particular young men. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
The details are intriguing, but ultimately we learn little more about what's in their heads. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Shot in the West Bank, the film radiates authenticity. Even when he plays the action like a thriller, Abu-Assad is in search of a deeper truth. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle Smith
Propaganda is terror's best friend, but Paradise Now is clever enough to make that buddy work for our side for a change. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
At the stunning conclusion, you feel as if the weight of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has come down on your head. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
It's an intricate, sometimes implausible ideological thriller that might be better as a smaller-scaled, less% preachy psychological drama. Still, "Paradise" catches and keeps your attention because of its daring subject, real-life backdrops and the intensity of its actors. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The film offers food for thought, and reminds us that, in any war, one who understands the mindset of his opponent gains an important tactical advantage. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
A compelling, tightly made political thriller. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Paradise Now plays like Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot," but with explosives. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Riveting. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Ken Tucker
The terseness of a thriller, the clarity of a documentary, and a mixture of high drama and low humor. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
While nothing truly new or shocking emerges, the film does bring clarity and compassion to its depiction of an act that baffles, angers and sickens people the world over. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
While "War Within" takes a deeper, more personal look at its protagonist, Paradise Now is a more ambitious film that better contextualizes its central characters and their politics. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Paradise Now suffers from some odd continuity glitches and takes a few too many narrative curves en route to an overly convoluted ending, but the heart of the movie is as tense as the bus ride in Hitchcock's "Sabotage." Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
A valuable film, provided one doesn't ask too much of it.
70
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Paradise Now isn't a comfortable viewing experience, but it isn't meant to be. Inevitably, people's reactions to this subject matter -- and this filmmaker's handling of it -- are all over the map. All I can say is that I found it a tremendously compelling existential thriller that kept me up late the night I saw it, and it has resonated in my brain ever since. Read full review
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Paradise may not change anyone's ideology, but it should convince some that, but for some deeply divisive views of religious morality, people are pretty much the same on either side of the holy fence. Read full review
70
SlateDavid Edelstein
What makes this an important film is the way it puts you in that landscape and in those shoes, so that you almost understand how ordinary human beings can be impelled to do inhuman things. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
It doesn't take its ideas or its audience far enough. The result is a humanist potboiler. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
As a thriller, it's only fitfully suspenseful, and despite the ticking bomb premise, meanders a good deal in its plot convolutions. As a portrait of the absurdity and humiliation of life under occupation, the story is heartfelt but predictable. Read full review
60
VarietyDerek Elley
Handsomely shot in widescreen, mostly on actual West Bank locations, and well-played by the cast, pic lays out the issues in an accessible but rather too over-correct way, seemingly eager to please all parties at the expense of real passion. Read full review
60
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
Some won't appreciate the mix of tones, but none of the humor cheapens the film's final blow, nor is it designed to condone terrorism in any way. Read full review
60
EmpireStaff (Not credited)
There are effective moments of dark humour. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Watchable but not very illuminating. Read full review
40
Film ThreatPhil Hall
Filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad, who helmed the excellent "Rana's Wedding," missed the boat on this one. He may have hoped to give a human voice to the suicide bombers, but instead he gave them a misfired movie. Read full review
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