Critic Reviews
77
Metascore
Generally Favorable
positive
18(90%)
mixed
2(10%)
negative
0(0%)
Showing 20 Critic Reviews
89
The film's story is both culturally specific and broadly universal and that duality is a large part of what makes Once Were Warriors work.
88
The director's key achievement is creating a convincing sense of daily life in the household and neighborhood. This is not a narrow drama that focuses on a few themes; it paints a whole style of life, the good times with the bad.
88
Once Were Warriors works, to some degree, on three levels: the visceral, the emotional, and the intellectual, and it is the amalgamation of these that makes this a memorable film.
88
Once Were Warriors has more to say than the traditional TV-movie about spousal abuse. But some viewers will have to pay a price: This is a movie that requires strength and fortitude to sit through.
88
Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell, who plays Grace, had never acted before, and neither have a couple of the other key players. But under the careful direction of television veteran Lee Tamahori, they all do credible and forceful work.
88
There are moments in the punishing drama Once Were Warriors that are supremely difficult to watch, but you can't tear your eyes away. Once these characters -- a violence-prone Maori family living in contemporary New Zealand -- get hold of you, you're in for the long haul. [09 Feb 1995, p.1G]
83
You can feel director Lee Tamahori doing his best to get a rise out of you. Yet his work has fire and substance, too.
80
At once upsetting and highly involving, it packs an undeniable punch.
80
A gritty human drama evoking the residual vibrancy of a threatened culture.
80
There's a documentary-like realism to the movie, thanks to its authentic Maori cast and Tamahori's semi-improvisational approach to direction. Tamahori also gives everyone a sympathetic, realistic dimension.
