73
Metascore
21 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe A.V. ClubKeith PhippsZhang Yimou is a master of intimate character pieces.
- 83Entertainment WeeklyScott BrownEntertainment WeeklyScott BrownKen Takakura, a great rain-creased oak of an actor, delivers a quietly massive performance.
- 80SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirThis new picture will reach only a few devoted American spectators. That's too bad, because once you get used to the apparent flatness and emotional reserve of this picture, it's a sad, slyly comic tale of family trauma and reconciliation that packs a wallop.
- A little uncanny (has it been digitally manipulated?) and a whole lot clichéd, the tableau speaks of melancholy graced by a pale sliver of hope. You'd roll your eyes if they weren't so dazzled.
- 70Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasUnlikely to be ranked as one of Zhang's greatest accomplishments but is clearly the work of a major filmmaker. It is best seen as a heartfelt tribute to Takakura, as heroic and enduring a star as John Wayne.
- 60Village VoiceVillage VoiceSlow and pretty and duller than you'd hope for from an art-house sophisticate like Zhang.
- This is not storytelling by a confident artist. Even Zhang's former mastery of visual form has become shaky, with a pedestrian handling of dramatic scenes and a surfeit of picture-postcard landscape shots.
- 50New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoRiding Alone features a moving performance by Takakura (often called the Asian Clint Eastwood), as well as pretty cinematography. But the mushy script, co-written by Zhang, never rises above that of a TV soap opera.
- 40Film ThreatPhil HallFilm ThreatPhil HallChinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou has created so many memorable films (most recently the wuxia double-play "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers") that one can easily excuse his new clinker Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles.