It is a bloated Western that contains some extraordinary moments, a lot of heavy-handed political commentary and a hell of a lot of padding.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 27, 2015

It is a demanding film, without a doubt - but a passionate one.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 1, 2013

Cimino endows the visuals with a Zola-esque texture and realism. But the characterisation and dramatic reach go beyond even that.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 1, 2013

Emotionally stings like few other westerns.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 1, 2013

Its status as a true wonder-work of American cinema is now surely beyond doubt.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 1, 2013

On a purely sensory level, Heaven's Gate is overpowering.

| Apr 1, 2013

If anything, Michael Cimino's inert disaster of a Western has gotten worse over the years ...

| Original Score: 1/5 | Mar 19, 2013

Michael Cimino's film represented a slight return to classicism--to larger-than-life Panavision spectacle and crane shot-managed majesty, however contradicted by narrative bleakness.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 16, 2013

Flawed but interesting piece of art in the form of an anti-Western.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 2, 2012

The longer version is impressive as long as the characters and settings remain in long shot; only when the camera gets closer do the problems start.

| Mar 2, 2012

It really is a stinker.

| Mar 2, 2012

The balance of director Michael Cimino's film is so confusing, so overlong at three-and-a-half hours and so ponderous that it fails to work at almost every level.

| Jul 22, 2008

For all the abuse heaped on it, this is -- in its complete version, at least -- a majestic and lovingly detailed Western which simultaneously celebrates and undermines the myth of the American frontier.

Full Review | Feb 9, 2006

This movie is $36 million thrown to the winds. It is the most scandalous cinematic waste I have ever seen, and remember, I've seen Paint Your Wagon.

| Original Score: 0.5/4 | Oct 23, 2004

The lie of frontier idealism is debunked, and Vilmos Zsigmond's mistily gorgeous cinematography is virtually an act of mourning in and of itself.

Full Review | Oct 6, 2004

Heaven's Gate' is something quite rare in movies these days -- an unqualified disaster.

| Original Score: 0/5 | Aug 30, 2004