The Princess and the Warrior
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: June 22, 2001 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
5
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Lacks the gimmicky hook that made "Run Lola Run" an arthouse hit, but it doesn't lack for ideas, nor for images that will sweep you up in their boldness and have the resonance of dreams. Read full review
30
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Throughout, Tykwer reaches for mysteries he has no idea how to evoke, relying instead on his actors' empty stares. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
It's dreary and self-indulgent but has its crystalline moments. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
A heady yet disciplined work, a dazzling fable of love, destiny and redemption. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Tykwer ends the film on a bizarre note that caught me off guard, a too-literal bit of salvation that is more bothersome than revelatory. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
Every once in a while a picture comes along that captures not just love, but romance in all its fear, yearning, fantasy, eroticism and unexpected epiphanies. German filmmaker Tom Tykwer's The Princess and the Warrior is one such film. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Deeply whimsical beneath its poker face, The Princess and the Warrior has the structure of an elaborate mind-teasing puzzle. Read full review
70
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Goes on too long, and much of it is hooey, but it’s hard not to have a good time. Read full review
80
New Times (L.A.)Bill Gallo
The cornerstone of this fascinating film is a peculiar but absolutely solid love story. In terms of intellectual and emotional stimulation, who could ask for more? Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
(Tykwer's) unpredictability has become predictable, and the only thing genuinely uncanny here is the unsettling — and unintentional — sense of déjà vu. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
You don't have any idea what's going to happen next. You're not caught in a movie, so much as a narrative stratagem. Read full review
63
USA TodayMike Clark
The film has its moments as a mood piece. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Princess is far more contemplative than "Run Lola Run," far less energized, and the little tricks of fate that made his last film so unique seem like sophomoric affectations here. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
Vastly more explicit (be warned) and intelligent (than "Angel Eyes"). It also leads to much darker - and more interesting - places. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyManohla Dargis
Tykwer may want meaning to go with his special effects, but the problem with his filmmaking, both here and earlier, is that he's more interested in his own bag of tricks than in actually saying something. Read full review
80
VarietyDavid Rooney
Eminently stylish, visually striking romantic thriller. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
What's special about the film is at a deeper level, down where (Tykwer) engages with the souls of his characters. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Spellbinding on its own terms, a modernist fable with a madly romantic soul.
60
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Promising in its first third, only to end up shambling too aimlessly in the last. But as flawed as this picture is, there's one sequence in it that has already burrowed deep in my memory, and of everything in the movie, it's the one element that convinces me that Tykwer has it in him to one day make a truly great picture. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Nowhere near as dynamic as the title implies. It's hard not to think of it as ''Sleepwalk Lola Sleepwalk.''
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Offers much food for thought. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
When (Tykwer) connects it's exhilarating and gorgeous, a sight to behold. Read full review
63
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Tykwer made Potente a star in Run Lola Run, and here she repays him 10 times over. Without her force of gravity, this film would waft into the ether. Read full review
40
Mr. ShowbizMichael Atkinson
An absurdist semi-romance between two traumatized somnambulists.
75
Chicago TribuneLoren King
An unpredictable, mythic tale about haunted outcasts that is both dazzling and disquieting.
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