Rendition
New Line Cinema | Release Date: October 19, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
25
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Rendition is valuable and rare. As I wrote from Toronto: "It is a movie about the theory and practice of two things: torture and personal responsibility. And it is wise about what is right, and what is wrong." Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Taut, powerfully acted political thriller. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
About two-thirds of the way through, Rendition takes a bad turn and sells out most of what made it worth watching in the first place. Witherspoon is given little to do except look weepy, Freeman's change of heart is Q.E.D., and the radical Islamist subplot overwhelms the action, which becomes so confusingly structured that I thought the projectionist had misplaced a reel. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
A rarity – a political film that delivers its timely message with a cinematic punch and no undue speechifying. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
There are some problems with the pacing, but this topical thriller about CIA-sanctioned torture is one of the most important "message" movies of the year. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A maddening film, maddening in a good way, but maddening nonetheless. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Occasionally a movie's subject outweighs any aesthetic flaws, as it does in this unsettling thriller about the extraordinary rendition of terror suspects. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
While the ingredients are there to make a tense and compelling post-9/11 thriller, Rendition falls flat. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The movie Rendition asks, admittedly in a one-sided way, whether the ends justify these means. Read full review
60
EmpireAngie Errigo
Disappointingly dull given the explosive subject matter, this at least attempts to get a message into the mainstream. An extra star for effort rather than execution. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
The jumping around is as deft as a hippo in a tutu, and the director, Gavin Hood, never finds a rhythm. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
Rendition offers few surprises, and it tips its hand too soon and too predictably to do much more than goose your weary outrage. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Rendition certainly makes the case that torture, whatever name it goes under, is indefensible, yet one can agree with that view entirely and still feel that the movie is just a borderline exploitation of what anyone who reads the papers already knows. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
The movie is not exciting, original or instructive enough to justify the unpleasant experience. Read full review
50
VarietyTodd McCarthy
By underplaying the melodrama in the presumed hope of seeming subtle when Kelley Sane’s script is so baldly melodramatic, the “Tsotsi” helmer drains the life out of an obviously explosive subject. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The film's disappointingly black-and-white approach robs characters and situations of badly needed ambiguity. Read full review
50
Village VoiceElla Taylor
Unlike Hood's far more persuasive gangster picture "Tsotsi," Rendition feels generic and lackluster. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Intelligent and well-meaning, Rendition is nevertheless an oversimplified and uneven attempt to arouse righteous indignation among its viewers. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
In Rendition Gyllenhaal is supposed to be the smartest one in the room, yet he’s essentially just a good-looking plodder. And despite its whirligig story machinations, so is Rendition. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
What a cast, indeed. And what a bust as persuasive drama. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
With a cast this stacked, the performances are predictably strong (particularly from Sarsgaard, whose slow-burning role recalls his work in Shattered Glass), but the first impression they make is the same as the last. Read full review
50
SlateDana Stevens
Forget the thin characters and showoffy temporal structure. Rendition's worst flaw is its political deck-stacking. Read full review
50
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Manages to take an urgent, important topic and turn it into standard Hollywood melodrama. What a waste. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
A well-meaning, honorable movie. Which is not to say that it is a very good one. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Reese Witherspoon paces and cries through Rendition in a performance that does as much a disservice to her talent as the movie does to the issues it raises. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Rendition tackles the concern in a heavy-handed thriller with simplistic characters and manipulative story lines. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle Smith
Rendition has the depth of a bumper sticker without the brevity. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
One reason to see Rendition is for Naor's stunning performance as the torturer who is the one character aware of the political and moral contradictions of what he's doing. Every time he was on screen, he commanded it. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
If these new, allegedly topical movies are to make us feel anything -- to move us toward any action or even just toward any fresh realization -- they need to at least seem alive on the screen, instead of just courting our polite, measured applause. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Painfully boring. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Rendition is a reminder that, in the wrong hands, political outrage can be a slog. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
None of the actors is able to do much with their characters, because they are all playing game pieces on a schematic board. Rendition has passion to spare, but it is saddled with a story designed exclusively to drive home the filmmakers' message. Read full review
50
PremiereGlenn Kenny
If it makes anybody feel better, one character in the picture does point out that the whole "extraordinary rendition" concept originated with Clinton. So there's balance for you. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Overheated claptrap that takes an issue of vital national importance and turns it into an inept cartoon that emboldens the worst instincts in our national character. Read full review
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