In trying to create a balanced portrait of the conflicts and the ordinary people affected by them, director Michael Berry... chips away at the authenticity and intensity that an issue-driven film like this sorely needs.

| Sep 5, 2014

The actors are compelling, and the issue is, of course, always worth discussion. It's not a great movie, but, if nothing else, Frontera is worthwhile on those fronts.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 5, 2014

"Frontera" is a well-cast, well-made, well-acted drama that you will probably forget about soon after you've seen it.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 5, 2014

The movie gets points for not being polemical, but they don't replace the polemics with anything interesting.

| Original Score: 5.5/10 | Sep 4, 2014

You wish that a filmmaker like John Sayles had grabbed the story by the throat and teased out its complexities.

| Sep 4, 2014

The modern, gritty Western "Frontera" takes a lot of the clichs and delicately upends them to tell a tale about undocumented immigrants.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 4, 2014

No polemic, it's a poignant tale of human decency and redemption.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 4, 2014

There's a fine line between foreshadowing and telegraphing, and Frontera does plenty of the latter.

| Original Score: C | Sep 4, 2014

"Frontera" offers an unsparing look at the plight of illegal immigrants, even if the ending seems too patly convenient.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 3, 2014

With its characters all sketched in single dimension and its story woefully light on surprise or intricacy, Berry's work proves less interested in nuanced drama than in merely forwarding an agenda.

| Sep 3, 2014

Middling if still very watchable ...

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 2, 2014

It's no polemic, but neither is it as character-driven as it aims to be.

| Sep 2, 2014

Frontera is a showcase for actors: Ed Harris, in particular, does something we've seen him do before -- play the laconic man of principle -- but he's so good at it, you warm right up to his rhythms.

| Sep 2, 2014

By turns abrasive and stately, sermonic and impartial, plot-heavy and meandering, often within seconds of each other.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 1, 2014