55
Metascore
29 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertYou can see how this movie could have been jacked up into a one-level action picture, but what makes it special is how Thornton modulates the material.
- 80TimeRichard SchickelTimeRichard SchickelA perfectly coherent, handsomely rendered couple of hours, animated in particular by Damon's good performance -- shrewd, innocent, angry, wistful and, above all, likable.
- 75New York Daily NewsJack MathewsNew York Daily NewsJack MathewsThornton, directing his first film since the minimalist "Sling Blade" (1996), has a much better grip on the material when he's focused on the scruffy desert landscape and the adventures of the two Texans.
- 70Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonThornton, writer-director of the superb "Slingblade," has a gift for depicting down-and-dirty scenes among men. And when our three principal characters go riding from Texas to Mexico, this is the best part of the movie.
- 60TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghTV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghThe movie's greatest liability is the familiarity of the material, much parodied since the glory days of John Ford. Unfortunately, Thornton's love for its iconography doesn't quite bring it to life.
- 50VarietyTodd McCarthyVarietyTodd McCarthyA half-broken adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's great modern Western novel. Neither dull nor exciting.
- 50USA TodayMike ClarkUSA TodayMike ClarkAs this year's literary adaptations go, Horses comes a lot closer to being a truly bad movie than "The Perfect Storm" did, yet it would be hard to argue that the two are not the year's most disappointing in terms of trampled hopes.
- It all feels disorienting and truncated, as if the script, by Ted Tally, who also adapted "Silence of the Lambs," was a harried summary of the book.
- 20SalonCharles TaylorSalonCharles TaylorAt under two hours, the movie crawls by; at four, people would become fossilized to their seats.
- 20New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter RainerNew York Magazine (Vulture)Peter RainerMost movies take a while to slip you into a stupor. All the Pretty Horses makes you groggy right away. Set in 1949, it's a lackadaisical series of vignettes apparently culled from a much longer movie that never made it to the screen. Be thankful for that.