Its central mystery is compelling even though it takes some time before we finally get to the truth. And even though the emotion is pretty thick in the final 15 minutes it still feels earned.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 19, 2022

What emerges may not be quite as cut-and-dried as the movie’s structure sometimes implies.

| Jun 14, 2022

If a woman in command has wounded soldiers that need protecting from enemy forces, and her maternal instinct kicks in-look out.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 5, 2021

Washington, subtle, moving and charismatic, anchors the movie...Zwick's movie is solid, honorable and well crafted, but when all the veils have dropped and the mysteries solved, it feels tidier and more melodramatic than it promised.

| Feb 27, 2018

| Original Score: B+ | Sep 7, 2011

Military drama deploys plenty of violence, swearing.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 14, 2010

A carefully conceived, dramatically honorable picture that treats its subject with clarity and intelligence, especially by contemporary standards.

| Jul 22, 2008

As the detective-story flashback structure gets under way, what initially seemed adherence to dramatic and moral clich becomes more complex and interesting.

| Jun 24, 2006

Denzel Washington gives as fine a performance as I have seen him give.

| Original Score: A- | Apr 9, 2005

A provocative film with Oscar caliber performances. (published 7-19-96)

Full Review | Original Score: A | Dec 28, 2004

Despite its underlying predictability, Courage Under Fire manages warmth, intelligence and a healthy share of surprises.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 30, 2004

Denzel Washington reinforces his image as a serious leading man who dominates a film with his quiet intensity and aura of introspection.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 22, 2004

Underrated war flick with a surprisingly effective performance by Meg Ryan

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 2, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 20, 2004

When [Washington's] long pent-up emotions finally break through the surface, the result is at once exhilarating and heartbreaking.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 2, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 10, 2003

Excellent military mystery. Rashomon style point of view play.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 11, 2003

Washington's inherent gravity anchors his troubled and troublesome character, and Ryan, whom we'd all but written off as a perpetual pom-pom girl, takes on an atypical role and acquits herself, well, honorably.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 30, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 30, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 4, 2003