Max Manus: Man of War(Max Manus)

Variety by

This engaging second feature from "Bandidas" duo Espen Sandberg and Joachim Roenning combines artistic ambition and commercial appeal with a well-paced action-adventure approach.

The New York Times by Jeannette Catsoulis

Buffed to an expensive-looking gloss and dressed in period-perfect finery, Max Manus has an old-fashioned sincerity that entertains without engaging.

New York Post by Lou Lumenick

This rousing, fact-based Norwegian movie covers an unusual subject -- the resistance movement in that country during World War II, whose best-known depiction came in "Edge of Darkness," a 1943 Hollywood adventure movie starring Errol Flynn as a stalwart fisherman outwitting the Nazi occupiers.

Village Voice by Nick Pinkerton

An epic by Scandinavian standards, Manus's period re-creation is lavish-but the too-polished rental décor doesn't create a living past.

Time Out by Nick Schager

Despite the subtitles, it's basically a slice of formulaic Hollywood-style mythmaking, writ large and woefully empty.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Stephen Cole

Max Manus (the title role is played by Aksel Hennie) feels so familiar that audiences watching it are likely to experience a numbing sense of déjà vu. Nothing seems particularly fresh or involving.