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THE WHISTLEBLOWERMovie Reviews
Drama about an American woman working as a peacekeeper in Bosnia, who uncovers corruption and cover-ups among private contractors and multinational diplomats. Cast:Rachel Weisz, Vanessa Redgrave, Monica Bellucci, David StrathairnDirector:Larysa KondrackiRelease Date:August 5, 2011DVD Release:January 24, 2012From:Samuel GoldwynRating:RLength:1 hr 45 min
JANUARY 24, 2012
The Whistleblower, Good (Not Great) Reviews Key Cities
The Whistleblower played in key cities to good not great reviews. • Stephanie Zacharek wrote for Movieline, "...may overstate some of its themes, but Weisz keeps dipping below the movie’s surface, always looking for the shadowy underside of moral certainty." • And Marc Mohan wrote in the Portland Oregonian, "An explosive and worthy topic gets a mundane treatment." More Reviews Below...
The Whistleblower Positive Reviews (38 Reviews, reviews below)
Mary Pols, Time: VERY GOOD "In one scene Kathy Bolkovac finally confronts what she's up against and starts to cry. They are tears of rage, and the most powerful I've seen this year."(See all of Mary Pols's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 607 words, 08/04/11
Thelma Adams, Us Weekly: VERY GOOD(cg) "Rachel Weisz is tremendously moving.... the overall message inspires: One woman can make a difference when blowing the whistle on corruption."(See all of Thelma Adams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 73 words, 08/04/11
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: VERY GOOD(cg) "...succeeds, even if it hardly rewrites the genre. Based on actual events, it's staged with an understatement that's rooted in the muddy squalor of reality."(See all of Owen Gleiberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 264 words, 08/05/11
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...swings from melodrama to sermonizing, both blunting the human drama... It's Weisz who holds the ground in a performance of ferocity and feeling."(See all of Peter Travers's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 143 words, 08/05/11
Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a film to fill you with rage.... not above employing images of female vulnerability to manipulate us, and it succeeds."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 762 words, 08/12/11
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Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: WEAK(cg) "...a true story is underserved by a melodramatic script; the result is like a film of a '60 Minutes' segment. Still, Rachel Weisz is strong and smart."(See all of Joe Neumaier's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 149 words, 08/05/11
Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times/Chicago Tribune: MODERATE "...too well-intentioned for its own good.... Still, at its core, 'The Whistleblower' asks a viewer to consider the depths of depravity one human can inflict upon another..."(See all of Mark Olsen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 479 words, 08/05/11
John Anderson, New York Newsday: VERY GOOD(cg) "...unsparing... Kathryn Kondracki is an ideal role for Rachel Weisz, who so deftly marries steely determination with vulnerability and existential frustration."(See all of John Anderson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 351 words, 08/19/11
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a film to fill you with rage.... not above employing images of female vulnerability to manipulate us, and it succeeds."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 762 words, 08/12/11
Rob Nelson, Village Voice/LA Weekly: MODERATE "...a surplus of Hollywood-style eye candy and narrative formula.... falling somewhere along the line between shocking reportage and standard-issue torture porn."(See all of Rob Nelson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 193 words, 08/03/11
Jennie Punter, Toronto Globe & Mail: VERY GOOD(cg) "Director Larysa Kondracki and co-writer Eilis Kirwan move Bolkovac's story forward in engaging procedural fashion, keeping the mood tense and murky..."(See all of Jennie Punter's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 614 words, 08/12/11
Radheyan Simonpillai, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT(cg) "...exposes an issue that is both contemporary and urgent. Despite its storytelling flaws, it's a movie that needs to be seen if only for its subject matter: sex trafficking."(See all of Radheyan Simonpillai's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 178 words, 08/11/11
KEY CITIES (12 Reviews)
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: POOR(cg) "...doesn't trust the strength of its source material - or the intelligence of its audience.... It's not Bolkovac's story we doubt; it's the movie that's hard to swallow."(See all of Michael O'Sullivan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 520 words, 08/12/11
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "The story, inspired by Bolkovac's experiences and her subsequent book account, is dynamite. Alas, Larysa Kondracki's direction fizzles."(See all of Carrie Rickey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 305 words, 08/19/11
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a first-rate one-woman-against-the-system drama, a film benefiting from grim recreations of an ugly reality and a stellar cast determined to expose it."(See all of Roger Moore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 542 words, 10/14/11
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Somewhere inside this movie is a thought-provoking thriller about the collateral damage caused by geopolitical do-gooders. Too bad it never emerges."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 123 words, 08/19/11
Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic: MODERATE(cg) "...a well-made film, if what you look for is acting, cinematography, editing and clever narrative.... But you come away from watching it with a moral bellyache."(See all of Richard Nilsen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 527 words, 08/26/11
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: VERY GOOD(cg) "...it's designed to make you think and to make you outraged, and it will do both.... the good thing about true stories is that knowing they're true makes them better."(See all of Mick LaSalle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 394 words, 08/12/11
Marc Mohan, Portland Oregonian: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "An explosive and worthy topic gets a mundane treatment.... there's a conflict between the film's need for some sort of closure and the messiness of the reality..."(See all of Marc Mohan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 234 words, 08/19/11
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: MODERATE(cg) "Rachel Weisz's performance is terrific; the movie, sadly, is not.... It's self-important and heavy-handed when it should be harrowing and heartbreaking..."(See all of Rene Rodriguez's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 461 words, 09/02/11
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (8 Reviews)
Rob Nelson, Village Voice/LA Weekly: MODERATE "...a surplus of Hollywood-style eye candy and narrative formula.... falling somewhere along the line between shocking reportage and standard-issue torture porn."(See all of Rob Nelson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 193 words, 08/03/11
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: VERY GOOD(cg) "...combines the moodiness of 'The Insider' with the intensity of 'Serpico' to dramatize a long-standing international injustice."(See all of Peter Keough's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 152 words, 09/01/11
Alison Willmore, AV Club: MODERATE(cg) "...it takes an anticlimactic, all-too-honest ending to serve as a stinging reminder that in the real world, justice doesn't come easy, and sometimes doesn't come at all."(See all of Alison Willmore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 415 words, 08/04/11
Stephanie Zacharek, Movieline: VERY GOOD(cg) "...may overstate some of its themes, but Weisz keeps dipping below the movie's surface, always looking for the shadowy underside of moral certainty."(See all of Stephanie Zacharek's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,049 words, 08/04/11
Bill Weber, Slant: MODERATE(cg) "...given the usual emphasis on the American witness rather than the suffering ethnics, the abused chattel emerge as generic sacrificial lambs..."(See all of Bill Weber's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 422 words, 07/31/11
Radheyan Simonpillai, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT(cg) "...exposes an issue that is both contemporary and urgent. Despite its storytelling flaws, it's a movie that needs to be seen if only for its subject matter: sex trafficking."(See all of Radheyan Simonpillai's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 178 words, 08/11/11
HIGHBROW PRESS (4 Reviews)
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: WEAK "Ms. Weisz's talents are wasted here on a naive heroine and a narrative style that turns the horror of the prostitutes' plight into harrowing melodrama."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 220 words, 08/05/11
Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "...too well-intentioned for its own good.... Still, at its core, 'The Whistleblower' asks a viewer to consider the depths of depravity one human can inflict upon another..."(See all of Mark Olsen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 479 words, 08/05/11
MOVIE INDUSTRY (5 Reviews)
Justin Chang, Daily Variety: EXCELLENT "...harrowingly effective.... a tense, focused piece of storytelling with a powerful sense of empathy.... Rachel Weisz's performance holds the viewer every step of the way."(See all of Justin Chang's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 843 words, 09/15/10
Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "...too well-intentioned for its own good.... Still, at its core, 'The Whistleblower' asks a viewer to consider the depths of depravity one human can inflict upon another..."(See all of Mark Olsen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 479 words, 08/05/11
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: WEAK "Ms. Weisz's talents are wasted here on a naive heroine and a narrative style that turns the horror of the prostitutes' plight into harrowing melodrama."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 220 words, 08/05/11
17.5 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
The Whistleblower's reviews are separated by an average 17.5 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
The Whistleblower (38 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:The Whistleblower's reviews cover 70.2% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 16,067 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 423 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
The Whistleblower Coverage, Volume & Length (38 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 5 Days Before Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
The Whistleblower's reviews on average broke 5 days before opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is The Whistleblower's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
The Whistleblower (38 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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