53
Metascore
35 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91The PlaylistChristian GallichioThe PlaylistChristian GallichioIn the end, The Mauritanian is an efficient procedural that condemns the Bush-era treatment of detainees more effectively than any other recent narrative film. It’s an affecting, but nevertheless tragic, watch.
- 70VarietyPeter DebrugeVarietyPeter DebrugeThe story gains momentum as it goes, and by the end, it’s positively gripping.
- 63Washington PostMichael O'SullivanWashington PostMichael O'SullivanDespite a powerful performance by Tahar Rahim in the title role, and despite such marquee names as Jodie Foster and Benedict Cumberbatch in the supporting roles of Slahi’s attorney, Nancy Hollander, and Stu Couch, the Marine lawyer assigned to prosecute him — despite scenes of grotesque abuse that inflame the conscience — the movie lands, through no fault of its own other than timing, with a whiff of been-there, done-that.
- 55TheWrapAlonso DuraldeTheWrapAlonso DuraldePerhaps the biggest issue for The Mauritanian is that the screenplay by M.B Traven and Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani tries to accommodate too many protagonists.
- 50Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenKevin Macdonald’s film never captures the spectrum of a life lived in unimaginable extremis.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThis legal procedural remains strangely flat, despite its star power and a gripping central performance from Tahar Rahim as Slahi. An unimpeachably well-intentioned treatment of a dark chapter in American justice, it's methodical and serious-minded to a fault.
- 50Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreThe screenplay needed more work and the film in the can a lot more editing to make The Mauritanian worthy of the talent on the set.
- 50The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyThe A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyIt’s revealed that the evidence against Salahi, who admits only to training with the formerly CIA-backed Afghan mujahideen in an al-Qaeda camp back in the early ’90s, consists of summaries of reports and confessions, which neither side is supposed to see. But instead of rising to the challenge of such potentially abstract subject matter, the film opts for clichés: file boxes, lawyer talk over fast food, the classic confrontation in a poorly lit parking lot.
- 42IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichIf The Mauritanian is a slight cut above so many of the pious and self-flagellating political thrillers that Hollywood churned out in the years after 9/11, that’s because it doesn’t aim to exorcise America’s guilt so much as it tries to use it as a necessary step on the road towards forgiveness.
- 40The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawThis movie is content with congratulating itself for being on the right side of history, with little attention paid to questions unanswered and history unresolved.