Quiet, personal and refreshingly introspective.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 30, 2017

It's one of his finest and most memorable performances. Unfortunately, the script fails to rise to the level of Elliott's artistry.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 29, 2017

Two good things are not enough to goose this all-too-familiar tale of a selfish man who wakes up one day, realizes that he blew it and scrambles to fix it before it's too late.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 23, 2017

The script around him doesn't do Elliott or the character justice, and is a missed opportunity at a late-in-life comeback role for the one-time Western star.

| Original Score: C | Jun 23, 2017

Is there an American actor of more meaningful solitude than Sam Elliott?

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 22, 2017

Haley gave Elliott the gift of this career-defining role and Elliott returns the favor by giving a career-best performance.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 22, 2017

Elliott carries The Hero with what appears to be minimal effort, but rest assured, there's a deceptive weight to his resigned character.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jun 22, 2017

Nothing terribly novel here, but director Brett Haley has assembled a strong cast and a generous spirit, and Elliott has a way of finding poetry in silent gaze, speaking his lines as if written on velvet.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 20, 2017

Of course the main selling point is Sam Elliott aka Lee Hayden. I don't even know who makes that barbecue sauce Lee is touting at the beginning of the film or whether it's really good or just mass-produced glop, but based on that voiceover, I'd buy it.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 16, 2017

Even at its most contrived, "The Hero" exerts a soothing attraction not unlike the man at its center.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 15, 2017

Elliott invests his character with such authority that the movie resounds like a pair of bootheels.

| Jun 15, 2017

There's hardly a surprise in it. But Sam Elliott is in it, and that makes a big difference.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 15, 2017

"The Hero" may not be a great movie but it's a welcome tribute to a lanky, taciturn presence - a love letter to an actor that reminds us of why we ought to love him, too.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 15, 2017

"The Hero" is a film about renewal, about an unexpected rebirth that doesn't come easy and can never be complete but that represents a recommitment to life, nonetheless.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 14, 2017

Elliott, who, despite that voice, does most of his acting here with his eyes, is quietly effective, and so, in what could have been a queasy role, is Prepon.

| Original Score: B- | Jun 12, 2017

It's rare that a character actor gets this kind of showcase, and Elliott confirms that he's more than capable of handling center stage.

| Jun 9, 2017

You will almost assuredly leave The Hero knowing that [Sam Elliott] is a bona fide national treasure.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 9, 2017

Elliott could sell us anything, or course -- barbecue sauce, whatever -- just by showing up and being his formidable, glorious self. But he could use some meatier material.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 9, 2017

Without Lee's complicity in the triteness of his story - and Mr. Elliott's ability to sell it as a melancholy burden - this low-key feature by Brett Haley wouldn't be half as pleasurable.

| Jun 8, 2017

Elliott's droll delivery and laconic charm are very much in evidence; he probably couldn't turn them off if he tried, though "The Hero" leaves you wondering if maybe he should have.

| Jun 8, 2017