The New Yorker
Essentially a romantic adventure story with politics in the background—an old-fashioned movie, I suppose, but exciting and stunningly well made...
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Blood Diamond
Set against the backdrop of civil war in 1990's Sierra Leone and the African diamond industry, 'Blood Diamond' follows Danny Archer (DiCaprio) - a South African mercenary - and Solomon Vandy (Hounsou) - a Mende fisherman. Together, both fellas are on the dangerous hunt for a rare pink diamond, the value of which could transform their lives. While in prison for smuggling, Archer learns that Solomon - who was taken from his family and forced to work in the diamond fields - has found and hidden the extraordinary rough stone. With the help of an American journalist (Connelly), they embark on a trek through rebel territory, a journey that could save Solomon's family. From 'Last Samurai' director, Edward Swick.
2007Rating: R16, depicts grpahic & realistic war scenes143 minsUSA
AdventureThriller
- Director:
- Edward Zwick (The Last Samurai, Courage Under Fire)
- Writer:
- Charles Leavitt
- Cast:
- Leonardo DiCaprioDjimon HounsouJennifer Connelly
Blood Diamond | Reviews
San Francisco Chronicle
It is brain-fryingly boring. Here we have a film with all the gravitas, humane purpose and epic length of a classic, but with a lukewarm, uninvolving and slow-moving story, and with characters whose every action is predictable from at least an hour off. Director Edward Zwick tried to make a great movie, but somewhere in the process he forgot to make a good one...
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Rolling Stone
DiCaprio is terrific, but he can't save this lecture from the shame of using Africa as a vehicle for another white man's redemption...
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Premiere Magazine
That Blood Diamond penetratingly, and sometimes punishingly, shows precisely how this is the case without ever turning into some kind of lecture is its triumph...
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New Zealand Herald
Like the gem in question, it's just too big, too pretty and far too precious for its own good...
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Los Angeles Times
An ambitious film that can be viewed as either half empty or half full, "Blood Diamond" attempts something difficult and problematic. It can be pulled apart or appreciated, depending on your mood, but it should be recognized that movies like this have become as rare and potentially valuable as the stone that sets its plot in motion...
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Hollywood Reporter
To the unlikely role of a Bogart-esque reluctant hero, Leonardo DiCaprio brings an intensity that compels even when the script falters...
Full reviewBlood Diamond | Release Details
Blood Diamond is available to stream in New Zealand now on Google Play and Apple TV.