Critic Reviews
Passion of the Christ, The (2004) Rank 2 Reviews
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based on (408) reviews
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World Socialist Web Site
Reeling Reviews (Robin and Laura Clifford)
Fotograma.com
Un torso cruzado de latigazos, un rostro convertido en guiñapo sanguinolento, la multitud pidiendo a gritos una crucifixión, la maza cayendo en ralenti sobre el clavo, el plano detalle que muestra cómo el clavo penetra la mano: esa es la clase de ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Fotograma.com
cinEncanto (José Martín Sulaimán)
Mixed Reviews: The Arts, The World, and More (Martin Scribbs)
EnPrimeur.ca (Nicolas Lacroix)
Il est indéniable que le film est puissant par moment mais ... ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at EnPrimeur.ca (Nicolas Lacroix)
CinemaBlend.com (Joshua Tyler)
How you react to it depends mostly on what you take in with you. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at CinemaBlend.com (Joshua Tyler)
Sympatico.ca (Angela Baldassarre)
Emotional, violent, extreme and very gory, Mel Gibson's controversial The Passion of the Christ is a difficult and grotesque experience for most viewers. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Sympatico.ca (Angela Baldassarre)
Las Vegas Weekly (Josh Bell)
As a religious experience, The Passion of the Christ makes a damn fine movie. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Las Vegas Weekly (Josh Bell)
Empire (Ian Nathan)
A tormented movie about torment; loopy, over-reaching and occasionally suspicious. Simultaneously, it is a daring artistic endeavour. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Empire (Ian Nathan)
TV Guide (Maitland McDonagh)
The film is never dull -- no mean feat, given that it spends two hours telling a story whose end is widely known -- and features performances that range from coarsely effective to phenomenal. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at TV Guide (Maitland McDonagh)
Orlando Sentinel (Roger Moore)
Bloody to the point of gruesome, moving without being inspiring. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Orlando Sentinel (Roger Moore)
Arizona Republic (Bill Muller)
The basic message of Christianity -- love your brother -- is obscured under torrents of blood to the point of benumbing the audience. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Arizona Republic (Bill Muller)
Washington Post (Ann Hornaday)
Even within what often looks like a self-indulgent exercise in humiliation, pain and gratuitous gore, there is no denying the moments of genuine and powerful feeling in The Passion of the Christ -- some of which, by the way, evoke Jesus's most profound ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Washington Post (Ann Hornaday)
TV Guide's Movie Guide (Maitland McDonagh)
Never dull -- no mean feat, given that it spends two hours telling a story whose end is widely known -- and features performances that range from coarsely effective to phenomenal. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at TV Guide's Movie Guide (Maitland McDonagh)
ViewLondon (Matthew Turner)
Movie Marshal (Paul Boschen)
Providence Journal (Michael Janusonis)
Empire Magazine (--)
cinEncanto (Pablo del Moral)
CineScene.com (Howard Schumann)
Xi-online (Berend Jan Bockting)
El Criticon (Antonio Méndez Casanova)
MovieEye.com (Frank Ochieng)
www.filmrecensiepagina.nl (Wilko de Bruin)
Cinema 2000 (Eurico de Barros; João Lopes)
San Diego Union-Tribune (David Elliott)
A labor of conviction that comes remarkably close to faith-based sadism. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at San Diego Union-Tribune (David Elliott)
Hartford Courant (--)
Lee's Movie Info (Craig Younkin)
Film Freak Central (Walter Chaw)
Preaching to the choir and doing so in shorthand. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Film Freak Central (Walter Chaw)
Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) (Judith Egerton)
More of a bludgeon of evangelism than a work of art. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) (Judith Egerton)
Christianity Today (Peter T. Chattaway)
By giving us the feeling of experiencing Jesus' thoughts, and by making us privy to his prayers, The Passion draws us toward Christ's full humanity like no film before. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Christianity Today (Peter T. Chattaway)
Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas) (Mark Collette)
Those with a spiritually vibrant personal relationship to the story may find it as affirming as it is oppressive. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas) (Mark Collette)
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) (John Beifuss)
Overall, it's just another movie, and it can be dismissed with the same short critique we so often apply to other movies: The book was better. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) (John Beifuss)
Boston Globe (Ty Burr)
If you come seeking theological subtlety, let alone such modern inventions as psychological depth, you'll walk away battered and empty-handed. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Boston Globe (Ty Burr)
Bangitout.com (Jordan Hiller)
Mr. Gibson has plucked at the rawest of nerves yet I cannot blame him. He is expressing himself through the medium of film and using the text of his bible as the basis. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Bangitout.com (Jordan Hiller)
Oscar Guy (Wesley Lovell)
As a work of devotion and faith, "The Passion" is a success. As a piece of filmmaking, it is a failure. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Oscar Guy (Wesley Lovell)
True Movie Review (David Trier)
Not that anyone would notice, but the book didn’t have much of a plot either. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at True Movie Review (David Trier)
Los Angeles Daily News (Glenn Whipp)
It's as if Gibson is measuring God's love by the amount of blood he shows on the screen. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Los Angeles Daily News (Glenn Whipp)
Chicago Tribune (Michael Wilmington)
In the end, one can respect Gibson's high intentions and dedicated work, while remaining spiritually and dramatically unmoved by the result. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Chicago Tribune (Michael Wilmington)
Charlotte Observer (Lawrence Toppman)
Gibson has made an extraordinary, focused movie with blinders on, showing mostly one color -- blood-red -- from the full Christian spectrum. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Charlotte Observer (Lawrence Toppman)
Newsday (Gene Seymour)
Mel Gibson shows once again that he's skilled at depicting violence. But you'd be hard pressed to find evidence of 'tolerance, love and forgiveness' that the producer-director-co-writer insists he's trying to communicate. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Newsday (Gene Seymour)
Lawrence Journal-World (Jon Niccum)
The Passion of the Christ plays like a blend of a political-theology lesson and a snuff film. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Lawrence Journal-World (Jon Niccum)
CineMe (Daniel Meyer)
Salt Lake Tribune (Sean Means)
Gibson places his faith in Christ's suffering, and is determined to make the moviegoer suffer in Jesus' name as well. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Salt Lake Tribune (Sean Means)
MovieMaze (Thomas Straßer)
Star-Democrat (Easton, MD) (Greg Maki)
Is Gibson trying somehow to shock us into believing? ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Star-Democrat (Easton, MD) (Greg Maki)
Seattle Times (Moira MacDonald)
Gibson ultimately seems to be preaching to the choir, rejecting standard storytelling conventions such as introducing his characters, assuming his audience already knows everything he's about to tell us. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Seattle Times (Moira MacDonald)
Aufmuth.com (Jeanne Aufmuth)
Saturated with vengeance, betrayal, and melodrama, Mel Gibson's sadistic take on Jesus’ final twelve hours screams bloody murder. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Aufmuth.com (Jeanne Aufmuth)
Xiibaro Productions (David Perry)
CineMe (Daniel Meyer)
David N. Butterworth
Richard A. Zwelling
pulpmovies.com (Paul Pritchard)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
This is a film that will polarize its audience. Half will love it, and half will loathe it. This raised-Catholic critic can see the rationale for both. If you share the director's convictions, you might find that "The Passion of the Christ" is a powerful ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Big Picture Big Sound (Joe Lozito)
Boston Herald (David Brudnoy)
Philadelphia Inquirer (Carrie Rickey)
Media-Assault.com (Sean Caszatt)
Killer Movie Reviews (Andrea Chase)
Palo Alto Online (Susan Tavernetti)
NYC Film Critic (Ethan Alter)
Film Threat, Hollywood's Indie Voice
New York Post (Jonathan Foreman)
Washington Post (Michael O'Sullivan)
Controversial, yet undeniably powerful. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Washington Post (Michael O'Sullivan)
Salon.com (Stephanie Zacharek)
Mel Gibson may have changed the face of cinema forever. I think he has: He's made the first true Jesusploitation flick, a picture that, despite its self-righteous air of grave religiosity, is barely spiritual at all. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Salon.com (Stephanie Zacharek)
Christian Science Monitor (David Sterritt)
Expertly made, thanks largely to Jim Caviezel's fervent portrayal of Jesus and Caleb Deschanel's skillful camera work. But the film contains little to learn from, unless one is unfamiliar with basic Christian history. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Christian Science Monitor (David Sterritt)
Creative Loafing (Matt Brunson)
Gibson has basically taken the greatest story ever told and turned it into a snuff film ... It's Kill Bill for the churchgoing crowd. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Creative Loafing (Matt Brunson)
Goatdog's Movies (Michael W. Phillips, Jr.)
Los Angeles Times (Kenneth Turan)
In effect, aspects of Gibson's creative makeup -- his career-long interest in martyrdom and the yearning for dramatic conflict that make him an excellent actor, coupled with his belief in the Gospels' literal truth -- have sideswiped this film. What is ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Los Angeles Times (Kenneth Turan)
Newsweek (David Ansen)
Instead of being moved by Christ's suffering, or awed by his sacrifice, I felt abused by a filmmaker intent on punishing an audience, for who knows what sins. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Newsweek (David Ansen)
Philadelphia Inquirer (Carrie Rickey)
Even for the faithful, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ is too much Good Friday and not enough Easter Sunday. Emphasizing Jesus' agony over His ecstasy, Gibson has delivered a blood-drenched epic more stunning for its brutal violence than for ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Philadelphia Inquirer (Carrie Rickey)
San Francisco Chronicle (Mick LaSalle)
The Passion of the Christ should have left audiences in a state of exaltation. Instead it just leaves audiences exhausted. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at San Francisco Chronicle (Mick LaSalle)
The Hollywood Reporter (Kirk Honeycutt)
Gibson's intense concentration on the scourging and whipping of the physical body virtually denies any metaphysical significance to the most famous half-day in history. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at The Hollywood Reporter (Kirk Honeycutt)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Did it move me? And the answer is no. I thought it has a certain ghoulish, voyeuristic fascination, but I found it strangely remote and uninvolving on both emotional and spiritual levels. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Seattle Post-Intelligencer
eye WEEKLY (Jason Anderson)
I found the film more numbing than moving, as if the transformation it charted was not from human to divine, but from man to carcass. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at eye WEEKLY (Jason Anderson)
Projectionist (Sean Caszatt)
Seattle Weekly (Tim Appelo)
Might be mistaken for an instructional video on meat-tenderizing techniques for cannibal chefs. Mel's a muscular Christian without a philosophical bone in his head. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Seattle Weekly (Tim Appelo)
The New Republic (Stanley Kauffmann)
The $25 million of his own that Gibson is said to have put into this film may be conscience money, and the savagery in the picture may--consciously or not--be Gibson's way of saying that violence is not always valueless. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at The New Republic (Stanley Kauffmann)
Wall Street Journal (Joe Morgenstern)
What I do know is that I was gripped for a while by the strength of Mr. Gibson's filmmaking, only to be repelled and eventually excluded by his literalist insistence on excruciation. There is watching in horror, and there is watching in horror. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Wall Street Journal (Joe Morgenstern)
Film Threat (Jay Bliznick)
Who is this film for? It’s for the Christian followers who haven’t really read their scripture. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Film Threat (Jay Bliznick)
Dallas Observer (Robert Wilonsky)
It's too turgid to awe the nonbelievers, too zealous to inspire and often too silly to take seriously, with its demonic hallucinations that look like escapees from a David Lynch film; I swear I couldn't find the devil carrying around a hairy-backed ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Dallas Observer (Robert Wilonsky)
Movie Views (Ryan Cracknell)
I wanted to be moved. Really, I did. A lot. Instead, I left cold. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Movie Views (Ryan Cracknell)
Jam! Movies (Pat St. Germain)
The director claims he had no intention of making an anti-Semitic film and we tend to believe him, in much the same way we believe Larry Flynt when he says he's not misogynist. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Jam! Movies (Pat St. Germain)
Weekly Planet (Tampa, FL) (Lance Goldenberg)
The movie's biggest sin lies not in where it chooses to cast blame, but in its bungled attempt at manufacturing what I suppose you'd have to call an epiphany of excess. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Weekly Planet (Tampa, FL) (Lance Goldenberg)
eFilmCritic.com (David Cornelius)
The Passion is a beautiful film, but an empty one. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at eFilmCritic.com (David Cornelius)
Roanoke Times (Virginia) (Beth Jones)
Jesus stumbles under the weight of the cross so many times, you begin to swear the editors are recycling the same footage over and over again. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Roanoke Times (Virginia) (Beth Jones)
DVDTalk.com (Geoffrey Kleinman)
A very specific film made for a very specific audience. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at DVDTalk.com (Geoffrey Kleinman)
The New York Times (A.O. Scott)
On its own, apart from whatever beliefs a viewer might bring to it, The Passion of the Christ never provides a clear sense of what all of this bloodshed was for, an inconclusiveness that is Mr. Gibson's most serious artistic failure. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at The New York Times (A.O. Scott)
Village Voice (J. Hoberman)
X-ploitative though it may be, the spectacle of a man beaten and tortured to death seeks to be an object of contemplation. Serious questions are raised. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Village Voice (J. Hoberman)
Cinema Signals (Jules Brenner)
If Gibson imagined that this extended detailing of sadism would somehow be inspirational, he needs to be taken off his biblical steroids. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Cinema Signals (Jules Brenner)
Netflix (James Rocchi)
Mel Gibson's labor of love about the death of Jesus is incredibly labored, recasting his Crucifixion in crimson, slo-mo cliches. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Netflix (James Rocchi)
New York Magazine (Peter Rainer)
It isn't just the violence that is overplayed. There is so much creepy-Gothic Sturm und Drang in The Passion that at times it seems as if Clive Barker should get credit for the story along with Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at New York Magazine (Peter Rainer)
Metro Weekly (Washington, DC) (Randy Shulman)
It’s not an instructive or illuminating experience...but a visceral and vicious one. [I]t’s Mel Gibson on a bloody pulpit preaching to the converted. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Metro Weekly (Washington, DC) (Randy Shulman)
Baltimore Sun (Michael Sragow)
Gibson mounts a convincing crucifixion, but his victim is the audience. The Passion of the Christ aims its metallic cat-o'-nine-tails at the viewers' nerves. ...read the complete Passion of the Christ movie review at Baltimore Sun (Michael Sragow)
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