12 (2009) Critic Reviews

The new film's not only almost double the length of the original, it's four times as ambitious - a sprawling, surrealist, ultimately disturbing portrait of a society lurching uncertainly toward democracy. What's really on trial in this movie? Just the Russian soul.Read the full review

Mikhalkov has made a new film with its own original characters and stories, and after all, it's not how the film ends, but how it gets there.Read the full review

Has none of the crisp passion or suspense of the 1957 Sidney Lumet version; it's bloated, heavy-handed, and lugubrious.Read the full review

There is an unnerving and hopefully implausible twist at the end, but for the most part, Mikhalkov's 12 is magnetic.Read the full review

No matter how bad things get, you can always be thankful for this: You're not on trial for murder in Russia.Read the full review

With its thunderous drama and larger-than-life characters, which lend it a brawling energy, 12 is never dull.Read the full review

Rarely has the voyeuristic appeal of sitting on a jury been so cleverly expressed.Read the full review

Expansively, dramatically, magnificently Russian, Nikita Mikhalkov's loose remake of "12 Angry Men" plays like vintage jazz from a veteran band.Read the full review