56
Metascore
29 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfOccasionally, the movie italicizes its points with heavy musical drones, but its tone is remarkably even and concentrated: It makes sense that Jolie excels at stewarding the scenes she usually tears apart onscreen: two people struggling in an emotional death grip, the camera up close.
- 80New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNew York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierIt is how the film never loses sight of the closeness of the combatants, turning national intimacy into a tragic casualty.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJolie deserves significant credit for creating such a powerfully oppressive atmosphere and staging the ghastly events so credibly, even if it is these very strengths that will make people not want to watch what's onscreen.
- 70MovielineMovielineIn the Land of Blood and Honey is gratifyingly short on lectures and, interestingly, on history lessons.
- 50VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangThough sufficiently well made to suggest a viable career behind the camera for debutante writer-director Angelina Jolie, In the Land of Blood and Honey seems to spring less from artistic conviction than from an over-earnest humanitarian impulse.
- 38Slant MagazineAndrew SchenkerSlant MagazineAndrew SchenkerWhen does intensity and commitment supersede historical understanding?
- 33The A.V. ClubNathan RabinThe A.V. ClubNathan RabinIt's a film of shuddering earnestness and fevered good intentions gone awry, a dreary slog of a message movie with little but noble if unfulfilled aspirations to commend it.
- 10Village VoiceVillage VoiceThe denouement that sorts it all out moves from predictable tragedy to ludicrous redemption; closing titles confirm that the motivating intent in making In the Land of Blood and Honey was activist rather than artistic.