Critic Reviews
65
Metascore
Generally Favorable
positive
8(67%)
mixed
3(25%)
negative
1(8%)
Showing 12 Critic Reviews
100
Searing, powerful, and morally entangled.
80
Battle for Haditha has some of the raw energy of Sam Fuller's war pictures, which weren't subtle but left you energized by their ambivalence (there was no good or evil). It's a hell of a picture.
80
With its dialogue largely improvised by many who had seen extensive combat in Iraq, Battle for Haditha has a gripping authenticity lacking in other similarly themed dramas.
80
Intense, fair-minded entry in the pileup of Iraq pictures.
75
Unsubtle but gripping.
70
An engaging Iraqudrama that straddles the line between blistering exposé and Spielbergian heart-tugger.
70
Largely improvised, cast with ex-Marines and Iraqi refugees and shot in Jordan. It might just be the movie this war has been waiting for.
63
Lacking in subtlety and nuance, Broomfield's nerve-jangling movie nonetheless succeeds in showing the war from various vantage points. And from wherever one's standing, the view is profoundly disturbing.
60
Mr. Broomfield maintains a level of cool detachment throughout. That's to the good of the movie, which, though technically exemplary, falters dramatically on occasion, becoming dangerously close to overheated whenever the characters speak for any length.
50
Broomfield, whose celebrity exposés are known for their intrusiveness and innuendo, lost me with his gentle shower scene between an Iraqi woman and her husband; even if it wasn't invented, is it really any of our business?
