13 Minutes(Elser)

The Telegraph by

Somehow, this celebration of early resistance to the Nazis, with its overbearing sentimentalism and lacquered, Oscar-hungry sheen, manages to trace the familiar contours of countless other dramas set in the period. Subtle this film is not.

CineVue by Ben Nicholson

The story begins with the film's defining act and most accomplished sequence but, despite handsome execution, never hits those heights again in a plot where familiarity severely dampens the squib.

Time Out London by Dave Calhoun

It’s an important story, of course, but only mildly engaging as cinema.

The Hollywood Reporter by David Rooney

The movie is well acted and mostly absorbing, but it spells out everything so painstakingly that there's zero room for subtext.

The Film Stage by Giovanni Marchini Camia

Shedding little light on the circumstances of Elser’s failed attempt and even less on the broader history that surrounds it, 13 Minutes presents a redundant historical “what if” that leaves itself open to charges of relativization.

Empire by Ian Nathan

Despite moody flashbacks to the Nazi takeover, Hirschbiegel draws a blank. Elser remains an enigma, a great what-if whose German torturers cannot comprehend acted alone.

The Playlist by Jessica Kiang

13 Minutes is an elegant, expensive-looking, respectful history lesson that finds just enough interesting texture in terms of the religious, social, moral, and personal circumstances that led to the creation of this rogue ideologue, to save it from becoming dry.

The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw

A decently acted, heartfelt film.

Movie Nation by Roger Moore

13 Minutes is a taut, smart and straightforward bio-drama of this largely forgotten early figure in German resistance to the Hitler regime.

Total Film by Tom Dawson

This stiffly scripted film never quite stirs the emotions.