50
Metascore
36 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- The film’s only let down by its too-frequent recourse to narrative cliché.
- The film gives a lot of space to emotions, but Crowe reins in his outsized personality to contribute an affecting, understated performance and, as director, underplays the allegories, particularly the recurring water motif, so they seep through the narrative organically.
- The Water Diviner is a heart-warming tale of family, love and sacrifice told with four-square enthusiasm and manliness by director and star Russell Crowe.
- 63Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreThe performances are moving and get the job done, and Kurylenko (“Quantum of Solace”) wins us over by the way she slowly lets Connor, her enemy, win her sympathy.
- A handsome crowdpleaser with a big heart.
- 60VarietyEddie CockrellVarietyEddie CockrellAn often capriciously mixed cocktail of war film and cross-cultural family melodrama, The Water Diviner marks an ambitious if emotionally manipulative directing debut for Russell Crowe.
- 60EmpireEmpireIt’s an odd mix of "Saving Private Ryan" odyssey and romantic melodrama. It has sincerity, sensitivity and is often ravishing to look at but is let down by a chocolate box love story. Still, Crowe still might have a "Braveheart"/"Dances With Wolves" in him yet.
- 60Time Out LondonCath ClarkeTime Out LondonCath ClarkeThe Water Diviner is solid and old-fashioned.
- 50Slant MagazineMatt BrennanSlant MagazineMatt BrennanIn straining for the profound, the film ultimately loses its way in a veritable no-man's land of ill-conceived stylistic choices and narrative switchbacks.