The Ottoman Lieutenant
Paladin | Release Date: March 10, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
26
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
0
Mixed:
4
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
50
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldMar 9, 2017
I’ll admit to a weakness for this sort of thing (which Merchant-Ivory, a couple of decades back, made into elegant art), but even I couldn’t muster up much enthusiasm for this one, a tepid love triangle set in the Ottoman Empire in the early days of World War I. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinMar 9, 2017
This well-intentioned, sumptuously shot tale of love and war, directed by Joseph Ruben, lacks the emotional depth and romantic grandeur to fulfill its epic ambitions. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenMar 9, 2017
The by-the-numbers story never achieves its aimed-for grandeur or intensity, and the striking Turkish locations prove far more interesting than the characters. Read full review
40
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlMar 9, 2017
This movie's got everything except gravity or a sense of emotional coherence. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 7, 2017
What we’re left with is a botched romance saddled with an over-arching, over-reaching message, one that only the Turks will be quick to embrace. Read full review
37
Washington PostStephanie MerryMar 9, 2017
Morality is hardly the main concern of The Ottoman Lieutenant. Instead, it’s content with hackneyed romance and soaring strings. Read full review
30
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerMar 9, 2017
The Ottoman Lieutenant is an overwrought nurse romance merged with a history lesson, a combination that is hard to take as seriously as the film wants to be taken. Read full review
30
VarietyDennis HarveyMar 2, 2017
Though the film ultimately hinges on a “forbidden” Muslim-Christian romance, almost nothing is made of the enormous hurdles that would be present in this time and place. Read full review
25
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyMar 10, 2017
Upon taking in the gorgeousness — and it is really something; the production design of this movie, by Luca Tranchino, is exceptional (as is Daniel Aranyó’s cinematography, which shines when he’s shooting in the natural world) —Lillie observes, “It’s like being inside God’s thoughts.” Read full review
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 9, 2017
A couple of action sequences are well staged. That’s about it for the plus side. Read full review
25
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMar 9, 2017
A limp and lifeless historical melodrama that aspires to be the “Pearl Harbor” of the preamble to World War I and still falls well short of that ignoble goal, Joseph Ruben’s The Ottoman Lieutenant tries to snatch a love triangle from out beneath the Armenian Genocide but fails to get any of the angles right. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineKeith WatsonMar 7, 2017
More conspicuous than its rote melodrama is the way the film elides the concurrent genocide of ethnic Armenians by Ottoman forces. Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenMar 8, 2017
Ultimately, this is a movie that’s more about the Ottoman Lieutenant’s Woman than The Ottoman Lieutenant himself – another example of the film’s epic misdirection. Read full review
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