This potentially exciting, inspiring tale drowns in a sea of predictable action beats and frightening facial fungus.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 28, 2021

A functional period tale with a good bit to reveal about an inspiring historical figure.

| Feb 17, 2021

Altogether it's a rousing, passionate bit of film-making on a reasonably epic scale, with a cast of hundreds deployed for some big dusty battle scenes, which are duly impressive.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 11, 2020

For the lack of good acting, mostly resulting from poor dialogue, the movie at least manages to represent its characters as genuinely believable figures of a real history. That's the least you can ask for from a historical biopic.

| Dec 20, 2019

There's little doubt that Rani's story is an engaging and undertold chapter of history, but The Warrior Queen of Jhansi is not the best way to tell it.

| Original Score: D+ | Dec 3, 2019

Devika is sincere in her portrayal in a simplified narrative that does little more than follow the form of a school essay on the Indian warrior queen.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 3, 2019

While the film certainly looks fine, it lacks the grit and gumption that such an epic story demands. Most of all, it doesn't quite make Laxmibai the all-guns blazing hero that she was.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Dec 3, 2019

While I am glad it opened my eyes to this warrior woman of the 1800s who dared defy the British, I'm frustrated that the filmmakers failed to find a way to bring the story to life with more artistry.

| Nov 27, 2019

Written and directed by women and following a historical female protagonist with whom common audiences might not be familiar, Bhise's directorial debut tells a relevant woman's story for our times.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 25, 2019

Created by a mother/daughter team, they seem more concerned about enlightening audience instead of telling a compelling narrative. A phenomenal freedom fighter like Rani Lakshmibai deserves a much more thrilling depiction, but it's still worth a watch.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Nov 21, 2019

The Warrior Queen of Jhansi is not just about a warrior queen... Bringing emotion, drama, and truth to the forefront, this is a film for every mother, daughter, grandmother, sister, and friend - each a warrior every day of their lives.

| Nov 20, 2019

The filmmakers push hard to beat us over the head with a dynamic of good versus evil that's already intrinsic to the circumstances.

| Original Score: C- | Nov 20, 2019

The pounding hooves that whisk us through the pre-credit montage recall the manner of storytelling audiences lapped up throughout the '60s, but which is now the stuff that Hallmark Channel dramas are made of.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 19, 2019

Although it doesn't quite have the sweep you want from a historical epic, the battle scenes are exciting, the colorful depictions of Indian culture are gorgeous, and the heroine is worth rooting for.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 18, 2019

The true-life story of a feminist pioneer is compromised by heavy-handed clichés.

| Nov 16, 2019

Swati Bhise's old-fashioned historical epic is sincere but unexciting.

| Nov 16, 2019

One wonders how Everett got mixed up in this mess.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Nov 16, 2019

Earnest but heavy-handed docudrama is uneven and violent.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 15, 2019

This is a first film from Bhise, and an ambitious one, though it doesn't always deliver the force the story deserves.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 15, 2019

Will you be eager to learn more about this fierce "Warrior Queen" afterward? Yes. Will it be because you sensed more there than was melodramatically delivered? Probably.

| Nov 15, 2019