The film teaches, educates, enlightens, and entertains, and does so in a straightforward manner while imparting lessons on personal responsibility and sacrifice. Work hard, stay focused, believe in a noble cause and it's likely you will succeed.

| Original Score: 4.5 | Apr 15, 2022

Mara splits her time between nail-biting sequences and Megan's emotional growth through her relationship with Rex, a four-legged soldier. An inspiring movie based on two real-life U.S. Marines. Bring tissues.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 19, 2022

What I appreciated about Megan's story was how loving Rex enabled her to get through her suffering.

| Aug 25, 2021

Occasionally harrowing and always touching.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 16, 2021

One of the movie's covert premises is that for American youth the answer to a bleak existence is to join the military and kill defenseless people on the other side of the world.

| Feb 22, 2021

The film's gendered Orientalist narrative uses Iraq, its people and the US-led war there as the backdrop for a story about a white woman soldier finding herself and learning to love through her combat canine.

| Feb 18, 2021

It's an effective and efficient film that accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do.

| Original Score: 3.0/4.0 | Sep 16, 2020

The film is impactful without being flashy or overly polished. It's rough around the edges, not unlike its subjects.

| May 7, 2020

A powerful love story.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 18, 2019

This film is good for dog lovers and for anyone who knows anyone in the military.

| Sep 18, 2019

Megan Leavey is best when it focuses on Megan and Rex, the warm, winning human-animal story at its center.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 30, 2019

It's very heart-felt without being preachy or overbearing.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Mar 7, 2019

Rex is war lite, but as a film about trust, it hits the mark, staying just the right side of schmaltz.

| Feb 28, 2019

An uplifting story about companionship, devotion, and the lifelong friendship that develops from a mutual respect between a human and her animal.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 20, 2018

This is a stirring portrait of both war heroes.

| Original Score: B | Oct 31, 2018

Genuinely heartwarming biopic despite its shortcoming of cliches.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 30, 2018

It delves deeply and beautifully into the unbreakable bond between a soldier and her dog. Real life can sometimes be like a movie, and this is a prime example of that.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 22, 2018

The bottom line is that Megan Leavey is a riveting, inspiring and heart wrenching story, a fitting tribute to our female and four-legged military superheroes.

| Aug 21, 2018

It's a formulaic tale, but one for the shelf of contemporary films that are tracking our changing relationship to combat veterans, both human and canine.

| Dec 19, 2017

Often captivating largely in part due to a fantastic performance from Kate Mara; she is able to portray everything from a drifting loner personality to PTSD after an intense battle situation

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 5, 2017