| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 18, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 17, 2011

What we miss is the real Herzogian touch that can translate tales of derringdo into something more than mere adventure and stir the soul as well as the heart and mind.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 23, 2007

An effective, unassuming and old-fashioned action adventure which is - perhaps a little faute de mieux - probably the best film of the week.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 23, 2007

The performances are worryingly Method. Bale eats bowls of maggots. I had to look away when he tucked into a live snake.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 23, 2007

A quirky first half of torture, starvation and, um, stinky farts gives way to crazed jungle fever as Dengler leads a great escape into the heart of darkness.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 23, 2007

Herzog tells the story with a minimum of directorial flourish, relying instead on Bale's extraordinary ability to remain concentrated.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 23, 2007

Herzog's planted rather too firmly in his discomfort zone, but Bale once again confirms himself as one of our most intense, committed and watchable actors.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 21, 2007

Like taking a family holiday to the Dordogne: sure it looks good but haven't we been here before?

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 21, 2007

But just as exciting -- maybe even more so, for those who love the medium and, especially, the uplift of the great-escape genre -- Rescue Dawn is a triumphant Werner Herzog movie.

| Original Score: A- | Aug 20, 2007

Herzog builds this movie around another strong, eccentric performance from Bale, who is gaining a reputation for outsized talent and for downsized physicality.

| Aug 13, 2007

Although the film delivers the expected action and efficiently jacks up the suspense, longtime devotees of the director will undoubtedly miss the visionary qualities that have long distinguished his work.

| Original Score: B+ | Jul 28, 2007

Takes what could have been a mundane if well-made war story into something greater -- more harrowing, more hungry and more human.

| Original Score: A- | Jul 27, 2007

The performances here are as excellent as they are unnerving.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 27, 2007

Herzog outdoes himself with Rescue Dawn, making his most popularly accessible film yet and proving at the same time that he is among the most daring of all filmmakers.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 27, 2007

... everything about Rescue Dawn feels real ...

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 26, 2007

That heart-stopping beginning tells us Herzog is again in top form, richly depicting the true story of the only American POW known to have escaped from Laotian captivity.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 20, 2007

If Rescue Dawn isn't about heroism, then it's about something deeper, more primitive: survival instinct.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 19, 2007

If you're looking for a weekend movie that's heart-stoppingly suspenseful and inspiring, as well as brainy, funny, and strange, seek out Rescue Dawn.

| Jul 13, 2007

That such a masterful depiction of American heroism and can-do spirit has been created by a German art film director known for considerably darker visions of obsession is an irony Herzog no doubt finds delicious.

| Jul 13, 2007