The War Within
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: September 30, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Of all the feature films and documentaries to emerge since 9/11, few have been as bold, perceptive or as downright chilling as this thriller. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
An utterly convincing portrait of the sort of person willing to strap ordnance to himself and decimate scores of strangers in pursuit of his religious and political ideals. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverStaff (Not credited)
One of the strongest--and sure to be controversial--films of the year, The War Within goes places that other films wouldn't dare go. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
A few plot details strain credibility, but the characters (particularly the friend's sister and little boy) are persuasively depicted. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
It's thanks to Akhtar's standout performance that The War Within is as electrifying as it is. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
What goes on inside the mind of a terrorist who is willing to blow himself for the cause? The War Within is one of the few films that attempts to deal with this subject in a nonexploitative way. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
The film is highly critical of America's counterterrorist efforts, and not at all subtle in making the point that our stupidity and Nazi-like methods have helped create -- and vastly acerbate -- our problems. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Not entirely free from an aura of didacticism or contrivance, but the film by and large functions as a taut thriller. A drastic act late in the film on the part of Duri seems somewhat implausible, but that does not deter The War Within from emerging as a mostly well-wrought and timely tragedy. Read full review
70
Washington PostTeresa Wiltz
A portrait of a mild-mannered zealot, one that seeps under the skin and unsettles the nerves. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The War Within plays effectively off our voyeurism, yet it has such a cloistered, American-eyed view of the nightmare of terrorism that I kept searching for the profound explanation beneath its piecemeal ones. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Hampered by a mopey leading man. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldMarta Barber
The War Within is dark and somber, adjectives that describe both the film's look and its message. Read full review
60
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
The War Within succeeds only as a thriller with some wartime overtones, rather than as a character study that thrills. Read full review
60
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
Sometimes too pat and sometimes ragged with omissions and confusions, but it's still a fascinating look outside of that familiar world and into a harsher one. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle Smith
Chillingly realistic but deeply repellent, The War Within is a film that should not have been made. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Despite an admirable effort to explore topical concerns, both director and actor are obviously overwhelmed by the immensity of the subject matter. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
The War Within has within it a war of its own, one between docudramatic truth and familiar melodrama, however low-keyed. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleWalter Addiego
Tries too hard to be even-handed. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterRichard James Havis
Does a fairly good job of laying out the basic political motives behind Islamic terrorism. Unfortunately, as a drama, it has its narrative peak in the middle and quickly runs out of story afterward. Read full review
40
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Shot in DV by Lisa Rinzler, Joseph Castelo's modest drama struggles for verisimilitude, but it wears clichés like concrete boots, down to the cycle-of-intolerance-and-violence message that we hear every day on NPR. Read full review
40
VarietyRobert Koehler
An honorable but failed attempt to dramatize the dynamics that propel a basically good man to become a suicide bomber, The War Within contains provocative points inside a dull package. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Mired in noir cliché, the movie manages to be simultaneously overwrought and undercooked, with the Bambi-eyed Akhtar giving such a relentlessly inscrutable performance, one wants to poke him with a stick. Read full review
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