Courage Under Fire Critic Reviews

As profound and intelligent as it is moving, and that makes this memorable motion picture one of 1996's best.Read the full review

Intelligent, involving and serious, it is as honestly emotional as Hollywood allows itself to get, a story of the search for wartime truth whose own concern for the genuine makes all the difference.Read the full review

Denzel Washington is riveting.Read the full review

The end of the film understandably lays on the emotion a little heavily, but until then Courage Under Fire has been a fascinating emotional and logistical puzzle--almost a courtroom movie, with the desert as the courtroom.Read the full review

In Washington's haunted eyes, in the stunning cinematography of Roger Deakins (Fargo) that plunges into the mad flare of combat, in the plot that deftly turns a whodunit into a meditation on character and in Zwick's persistent questioning of authority, Courage Under Fire honors its subject and its audience.Read the full review

A large-scale military drama with a quiet, almost mournful center.Read the full review

A downright entertaining combo of mystery, melodrama and action adventure.Read the full review

Despite its underlying predictability, Courage Under Fire manages warmth, intelligence and a healthy share of surprises.Read the full review

Edward Zwick's high-minded new outing offers plenty of old-fashioned movie virtues such as believable action, plausible psychology, fully played-out confrontations and honest emotions.Read the full review