Miracle at St. AnnaMovie Reviews

No
Avg. Critic Score: 37 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 75
    Philadelphia Inquirer | Carrie Rickey

    Man, oh, man, much of the dialogue is so heavy, and heavy-handed, that you can see fine actors such as Derek Luke and Michael Ealy buckle under the weight. Clearly, Lee fell in love with McBride's words and couldn't bear to cut them, even when the visuals made those words redundant. Read full review

  • 55
    NPR | Bob Mondello

    Even in a film that clocks in at a quasi-epic 2 hours and 40 minutes, that's just too much narrative. And matters aren't helped by the fact that Lee, who has never staged battle sequences before, hasn't quite got the rhythms or camera angles right. Read full review

  • 50
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    The film collapses because Lee can't sew these vignettes into a seamless tapestry. He's more interested in getting even than he is in getting it right. Read full review

  • 50
    Boston Globe | Wesley Morris

    Miracle at St. Anna is not work of outrage or joy. It's something distressingly new for the filmmaker: a work of obligation. It feels like a movie Lee made in order to say he did it. Read full review

  • 50
    New York Daily News | Elizabeth Weitzman

    Of course the experiences and sacrifices of black troops, which were so often overlooked, should be represented and honored. But because Lee underestimates our desire to do so, the movie that follows doesn't do them justice. Read full review

  • 50
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    Aspires to be epic, but mostly it's just unfocused, sprawling and badly in need of editing. Read full review

  • 42
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    Miracle isn't powerful, it's muddled and diffuse. Read full review

  • 30
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    Odd too, for a film that wants to correct impression anyone had as to the abilities of black U.S. soldier in combat, are the ethnic cliches about Italians and Germans, to say nothing of rednecks. Read full review

  • 25
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    The first and most honest thing to say about Miracle at St. Anna is that it's an awful mess. Read full review

  • 10
    Wall Street Journal | Joe Morgenstern

    Given the importance of that subject, the real mystery of Mr. Lee's movie is why it's so diffuse, dispirited, emotionally distanced and dramatically inert. Read full review


Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Brutal WWII battlefield fable isn't for kids.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that, from start to finish, this is a violent war movie and not meant for kids. Though the filmmakers try to humanize the characters (including portraying a sympathetic Nazi), acts of cruelty, barbaric murder, wounding, and killing are graphically depicted throughout the film. Images include gunshots to the head, severed limbs, the massacre of innocent victims (including many children and babies), and blood gushing from heads and bodies and pooling around lifeless soldiers in the water. A young child is in danger throughout the film. Vicious racism is a continuing theme, and language is frequently crass and explicit (including many uses of both "f--k" and the "N" word). Two scenes show a bare-breasted woman; another includes passionate sexual foreplay.
  • Families can talk about what this movie is saying about American history. What was the country fighting for in World War II? Why were the military troops segregated during that war -- and throughout U.S. history? How has America's racial conscience changed since then? Also, what does Captain Nokes represent? Did he learn anything over the course of the film? How did you feel about him?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Some white American soldiers' blatantly cruel racism is tempered by the decency of other soldiers and officers; African-American soldiers are shown as courageous, heroic, and smart; a slow-witted soldier is depicted as brave, sensitive, and humane; the brutality of war is unsentimental and undisguised; a vengeful murder is seen as justifiable and satisfying.
What to watch for
  • violence false4 Violence: Explicit wartime brutality includes use of grenades and rifles, bloody deaths, severed limbs, and point-blank shooting. A savage massacre of an entire village in front of a church includes a close-up of a priest as he's shot in the head and graphic murders of children, women, and the elderly. A young boy is in jeopardy in many scenes throughout the movie. Also stabbings, a throat slashing, and several ambushes resulting in mass murder of unsuspecting villagers.
  • sex false3 Sexy stuff: A provocatively dressed young woman engages in seductive behavior to get her boyfriend's attention; a soldier views the bare breasts of woman preparing to do laundry; a brief scene of passionate sexual foreplay includes kissing, embracing, and undressing, with bare breasts visible.
  • language false5 Language: Pervasive swearing throughout includes countless use of all forms of "f--k," as well as "s--t," "bastard," "p---y," "sons of bitches," "whore," "goddamn," and more. Frequent use of the "N" word both as a racial taunt by white bigots and between African-American soldiers as "buddy speak."
  • consumerism false1 Consumerism: Camel cigarettes.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Smoking throughout, as was common during the period.

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Dave White

4.5

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