The Four Feathers
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: September 20, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
17
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The film's opening and closing moments are weirdly reminiscent of "Black Hawk Down," another tale of Western soldiers in over their heads on the dark continent -- clearly no one these days understands manifest destiny. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
It should have been an old-fashioned rouser, and sometimes it is. The great cinematographer Robert Richardson (JFK) lights the battle scenes like action paintings. But Kapur weighs down the tale with bogus profundities. Read full review
88
New York PostLou Lumenick
Splendidly spectacular, intelligent and very well-acted. Read full review
30
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Such few assets aren't enough to alleviate the film's shallowness. Read full review
40
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
Illogical and glum. [30 Sept 2002, p. 145]
50
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Feels both tiresomely old-fashioned and disturbingly topical. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
What The Four Feathers lacks is genuine sweep or feeling or even a character worth caring about. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Offers too small a dose of the blood-and-sand adventure you expect from this sort of big-budget Hollywood remake. As it is, it borders on The English Patient's on again-off again heroics, minus Anthony Minghella's patient skill in eliciting romantic suspense. Read full review
30
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
A mindless muddle. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Ultimately, The Four Feathers is strong where its predecessors were weak (in the authenticity of combat) and weak where they were strong (in the larger-than-life quality of the characters). It's not a good exchange. Read full review
50
Washington PostStephen Hunter
The movie's deeper problem and its primary disappointment: its unwillingness to deal directly with the issue of colonialism. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
Works as pure escapist entertainment, but it's on the cusp of being smarter -- making it all the more frustrating.
38
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Because this Four Feathers is an utter botch, it might make savvy viewers feel that the subject matter is hopeless. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineSteve Simels
The film's center will not hold. Either crucial scenes were cut (perhaps for length) or Kapur has a problematic sense of narrative structure; sometimes it's unclear who's doing what to whom. Read full review
80
New Times (L.A.)Gregory Weinkauf
Has a lot to offer as grand entertainment, from surprising battle sequences (plenty of terror, virtually no gore, brief and tasteful digital enhancement) to fine performances.
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
At its best, this new film does mix grandeur with skepticism, excitement with reflection. In the end, like Harry, it redeems itself. Read full review
30
VarietyTodd McCarthy
There is no one to become attached to in The Four Feathers, no interest or sympathies appealed to or engaged. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
When a filmmaker heavy-handedly imposes his contemporary values on a classic of popular art, it's devilishly hard not to destroy or invalidate the very thing that made it a classic. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It looks good, it moves quickly and it is often a jolly good time. As mindless swashbuckling in a well-designed production, it can't be faulted. The less you know about the British Empire and human nature, the more you will like it, but then that can be said of so many movies. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The good news is that it sees what a jihad looks like from both sides. The bad news is that it's not a very good movie, with three fine performances and two great sequences. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Kapur’s contradictory feelings about his material result in a movie that works against itself. As righteous and consistent as his anger may be -- it’s displayed from the opening title cards to the final shot -- it doesn’t blend successfully with the story. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The Four Feathers ends on the same dubious note as "Black Hawk Down" and other recent war movies, suggesting that loyalty in the trenches -- not the reason for fighting in the first place -- is all that matters. Many will disagree. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Still as moth-eaten as a Bengal tiger rug on the floor of a London men's club. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
All these intriguing good intentions, however, have largely gone for naught because of a variety of missteps, starting with an increasing implausible plot as well as the fact that Ledger's Harry looks about as likely to pass for an Arab as the Mahdi is to pass for Queen Victoria. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Ledger is a charismatic, conflicted hero who internalizes his character's shame and anguish to powerful effect. Wes Bentley is similarly strong as Ledger's best friend turned romantic rival, and Kapur makes the most of Africa's breathtaking desert, crafting a gorgeous spectacle that's at once stately and hyper-real. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
A tighter version of the same story might have captured and held my interest, but this one had the proceedings wandering like the riderless camels in the desert. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
It may be an accidental historical parallel that, at times, we seem to be watching a 19th-century version of ''The John Walker Lindh Story,'' but the fluke is only enhanced by the weird anonymity of Ledger's performance. Read full review
50
USA TodayMike Clark
Kapur's stodgy style halts the momentum of young actors who have impressed in other movies. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Its virtues can't outweigh the disappointment of a movie that might have been a rousing old-fashioned epic, or better yet a provocative reworking of an old epic, and instead became a muddle. Read full review
30
SalonCharles Taylor
Hoary epic of British Empire valor and cowardice, remade for seventh time, remains rot, old boy. Read full review
60
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
It's a pretty compelling yarn, not to mention full of pretty pictures, and yet it could be so much more than that. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
What a featherweight epic this is, the kind of uniformed period piece where the watchword is pretty. Pretty costumes, pretty soldiers, pretty battles; pretty silly. Read full review
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