The haunting and stark A War may be [Tobias Lindholm's] most striking and effective work yet

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Mar 17, 2016

A quietly searing drama about morality, priorities, and absolute truth.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 3, 2016

Writer-director Tobias Lindholm's latest is a microcosmic and finely wrought war story in which everyone has their reasons.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 26, 2016

Ethically challenging and occasionally brutal, "A War" explores the dicey nature of decisions made in the heat of battle and the grim consequences that may follow.

| Original Score: B+ | Feb 26, 2016

It's intense without becoming simplistic, and the actors stay focused as the viewpoints shift.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 25, 2016

Only in the second half, after the commander is accused of a war crime and returns home to stand trial, do these two worlds merge and their respective realities clash, with sobering results.

| Feb 25, 2016

[It] may ... be among the best war movies of all time.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 25, 2016

"A War" is an emotionally complex film that doesn't play by the rules of mainstream cinema.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 25, 2016

A War pays service to all sides: Danish soldiers, Afghan inhabitants, and the families... Straightforward and absorbing storytelling...

| Feb 23, 2016

A War confirms the darkest, least mentionable secret of traumatized veterans-that what haunts them is not just what they saw and what was done unto them, but what they did.

| Feb 21, 2016

The courtroom machinations are skillfully played, but here, too, there is a certain stolidity.

| Original Score: B- | Feb 19, 2016

Lindholm's mastery of film form is matched by his willingness to engage with some of the most intractable moral quandaries that haunt contemporary life.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 19, 2016

[A War] is not a masterpiece. It's as messy and uneven as real life. But messiness is inherent to why A War works.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 18, 2016

The craftsmanship of "A War" is unimpeachable. Tight shots and jittery camera work give the film an immediate, intimate feel.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Feb 18, 2016

Like his 2012 film "A Hijacking," Danish writer-director Tobias Lindholm's drama "A War" explores the theme of moral compromise with an uncomfortably astringent honesty.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 18, 2016

The film is cleanly made and moves quickly, which enhances its effectiveness. It raises moral issues that simply can't be addressed too often.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 18, 2016

A War is the best possible title for Denmark's Oscar nominee, which, scrubbed of the patriotism and politics that define American war films, transcends the war in the Middle East to interrogate the struggle of all conflicted decisions.

| Feb 17, 2016

The movie is memorable and draining, but "Full Metal Jacket" it is not.

| Feb 15, 2016

While most Hollywood movies are so afraid of moral ambiguity that you'd think the old-school Production Code was in effect, here's a story that eschews easy answers and forces audiences to examine their own consciences while the characters do likewise.

| Feb 12, 2016

Novotny is a striking screen presence; a fresher film would have told the story entirely from her perspective. But instead, we see the one we're used to - and a wobbly one at that.

| Original Score: C | Feb 12, 2016