The Promise
Open Road Films (II) | Release Date: April 21, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
19
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyApr 21, 2017
The movie hits its cinematic stride, as it happens, when events are at their worst. The Promise is drenched in production value and replete with ravishing shots of sunrises and sunsets, but it’s in the scenes of fleeing, of battle, and of horrendous loss that the film is at its most effective. The depiction of the savagery inflicted on Armenia is bracing. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedApr 21, 2017
Terry George remains a director I admire, and as movies go, the integrity and importance of The Promise are irrevocable. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliApr 20, 2017
When it comes to war love stories, The Promise isn’t going to challenge Casablanca. The movie is stronger when presenting the political situation than the romantic one. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperApr 20, 2017
Yes, The Promise veers into corny territory, and yes, it’s derivative of better war romances — but it’s a solid and sobering reminder of the atrocities of war, bolstered by strong performances from Isaac and Bale, two of the best actors of their generation. Read full review
70
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlApr 20, 2017
As drama and spectacle, it’s not quite first-rate — I rarely feared for these characters or believed that I knew their souls, and George is too much of a humanist to wring real-life tragedy for cineplex suspense. But as a moral corrective and a call to decency it moved me. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenApr 19, 2017
The Promise may not be the greatest movie of its type since "Hotel Rwanda," but purchasing a ticket to this solid if predictable movie is a sure way to thumb one’s nose at deniers of the Armenian Genocide. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Johanna SchnellerApr 20, 2017
No disrespect to Le Bon, who is pleasant enough, but this kind of part should be a career-definer. Where is today’s Ingrid Bergman, Julie Christie or Diane Keaton? Blame those damned superhero pics, which, in appealing only to adolescent boys, have cost us a generation of actresses. Read full review
60
EmpireAndrew LowryApr 24, 2017
Undeniably effective, in its own blunt way, this deserves credit for shining light on a crime that’s — unbelievably and controversially — still denied to this day. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinApr 24, 2017
The film is no masterpiece — again, George can’t illuminate why a million people were murdered by their own countrymen. But as we focus on Rusesabagina’s almost farcically desperate attempts to forestall tragedy, we have a vision of genocide as a virus with its own terrible momentum. Read full review
60
Time OutDave CalhounApr 21, 2017
You have to swallow some inadequacies to get the most out of The Promise. It is appealingly photographed and boasts some stunning location work, yet it’s also saddled with the tone of a biblical epic, invisibly watermarked with the label important. Read full review
60
The GuardianBenjamin LeeSep 17, 2016
There’s something rather dusty about The Promise as George pushes his characters through a string of soapy machinations that feel incredibly familiar. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattApr 20, 2017
Even lush set pieces and a raft of prestige players (including Shohreh Aghdashloo, James Cromwell, and Jean Reno) can’t fulfill the movie’s pretty, ultimately empty promise. Read full review
58
The Film StageJordan RuimySep 17, 2016
If George set his sights on capturing the effects of this tragic stain in history rather than love-making, we might have gotten a drama worthy of the talent involved. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshApr 20, 2017
With seemingly all the right pieces, it's a disappointment that The Promise lacks the energy and originality needed to sustain itself. It might be fresh material, but the approach is decidedly stale. Read full review
50
Washington PostMark JenkinsApr 20, 2017
Attempting to make an atrocity palatable to a mainstream audience, The Promise delivers the history, but undercuts its impact. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzApr 20, 2017
Director and co-writer Terry George (“Hotel Rwanda”) tries his best to give the film an epic sweep, but he substitutes quantity of plot threads for quality of story. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversApr 20, 2017
The actors do what they can to keep their heads above the sudsy script. No go. It’s distressing to see a great subject go wrong in the right hands. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleApr 20, 2017
The Promise is hardly grotesque; and it has good things in it, but by the end, it just feels like a failed manipulation. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyApr 19, 2017
Only Bale’s man-of-action reporter comes across as a personality rather than a statistical composite. In part, that’s because the performance recognizes that people of unwavering integrity can still be dicks. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTom RussoApr 19, 2017
Too glossy to truly immerse audiences in the horrors it depicts. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsEdward DouglasApr 19, 2017
The awkward love triangle feels forced and unnecessary and distracts from and dilutes the power of the historic drama. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreApr 17, 2017
The Promise, despite its battles, its vivid recreation of the last days of Constantinople (renamed Istanbul), its historical sweep,despite a very good cast, never feels “epic” and rarely do its romantically drawn characters draw us into their romance and their tragedy. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeSep 17, 2016
The event-stuffed screenplay seems frightened of the running time associated with historical romances, though, excising any occasion for reflection or distraction; as a result, the picture moves with a mechanical predictability that would be considerably more annoying with a less watchable cast in front of us. Read full review
40
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisApr 20, 2017
Weighed down by the worthiness of its intentions, The Promise is a big, barren wartime romance that approaches the Armenian genocide with too much calculation and not nearly enough heat. Read full review
40
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 17, 2016
Terry George buries a worthy subject in a stuffy story of unrequited love and selfless heroism that gives off a strong scent of mustiness. Read full review
40
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 17, 2016
The events being considered deserve better than a sloggy melodrama in which the tragedy of a people is forced to take a back seat to a not especially compelling love triangle. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineKenji FujishimaApr 17, 2017
The Promise simply turns this historical tragedy into mere background noise for a flimsy romantic triangle. Read full review
30
TheWrapRobert AbeleApr 18, 2017
There’s simply no time for the impact of anything that happens to get its reflective due, because the movie is too busy reverting to the up-and-down status of Michael’s and Ana’s increasingly inconsequential relationship while lining up its next large-scale set piece. Read full review
30
We Got This CoveredJoseph FalconeSep 22, 2016
Stagnant, contrived, and oh so boring, The Promise is nothing but a perfectly good waste of Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac’s towering abilities. Read full review
25
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthSep 17, 2016
Didactic yet generic, The Promise endeavors to educate about a period of recent history that is still unacknowledged by the Turkish government, but curiously manages to be anonymous in form nonetheless. Read full review
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