Nicolas Cage and Matthew Modine give stellar performances as Philly youths torn apart physically and spiritually by war in Alan Parker's unsparing portrait of brotherly affection.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 19, 2024

Despite the film's heavily symbolic tone, little is revealed about either of the characters or indeed the Vietnam War.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 16, 2023

Far better as an antiwar film than as a poetic tribute to flight.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 16, 2023

It has more cinematic integrity than 90 per cent of the rest of local movie fare combined. It ought to be seen.

| Dec 16, 2023

What's particularly gratifying about Cage's performance as the preening and pitiful Al is that it proves at long last that his delightful work in "Valley Girl" was no fluke.

| Dec 16, 2023

Director Parker does a masterful job of letting us see inside Birdy's head, and Cage, as Al, is the tool he uses.

| Dec 16, 2023

The strength of this movie is in its pacing, psychological restraint, and visual texture. Birdy is disturbing — and not for those who have trouble sleeping.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 16, 2023

It may not satisfy hard-line lovers of the book, who may argue that William Wharton's eccentric characters should have remained between its covers, but for those who do not know the novel, or for less rigid William Wharton-ites, it is a risk well taken.

| Dec 16, 2023

A strange tale of... strange friendship, a fascinating film that displays this bonding in marvelous style and which shows the true, loyal love of one man for another as strongly as I've ever seen.

| Dec 16, 2023

Dares to blend beauty with the ugliness of war.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 16, 2023

The simplest solution is to say go see it because it's an extraordinary movie and it features two extraordinary but totally different performances in the leading roles.

| Dec 16, 2023

Not all of the film's metaphors work; a few seem predictable and overdone. And the theme of identity interchange, or the doubling aspect between the two heroes, is a bit trite. Yet the film is still an emotional sledgehammer.

| Dec 16, 2023

"Birdy" is a beautiful one-of-a-kind film made by a director, Alan Parker, who never makes the same film twice.

| Dec 16, 2023

In an age of no-risk moviemaking, it is gratifying to see someone even try to make a film like Birdy. To bring it off so triumphantly, as Parker has done here, is nothing short of amazing.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 16, 2023

In a performance so transcendentally unearthly that it touches on saintliness, Modine displays an almost sculptural control of his body and an ability to project inner feelings almost palpably.

| Dec 16, 2023

To me, there are parts of Birdy that definitely outshine the whole.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 5, 2022

It sounds borderline precious and pretentious, but it's anything but.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 30, 2021

It relies on good performances from Matthew Modine and Nicolas Cage to draw a speech on repressed emotions and the traumatic wounds of war, but in my opinion its regular and repetitive narrative lacks strength. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 6/10 | Feb 10, 2021

Stunning and heartrending.

| Feb 28, 2020

Cage struggles with a character that is no more than a foil to Birdy...

| Jan 3, 2018