50
Andy Goddard’s film clumsily superimposes a frenzied, completely fictional spy adventure onto a fascinating fragment of pre-war history.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
40
The Irish Times by Donald Clarke
It would be nice to say that Judi Dench, inevitably the headmistress, elevates the project, but even she can’t get gas back into the plummeting Zeppelin (wrong war, I know).
50
Los Angeles Times by Gary Goldstein
It’s a potentially intriguing bit of fiction that plays out in, at best, serviceable ways.
50
The New York Times by Glenn Kenny
The double-crosses are depicted by the director Andy Goddard with better-than-average craft, but the more the movie leans into old suspense conventions the more interest it loses, alas.
40
New York Magazine (Vulture) by Helen Shaw
The movie is dogged by wobbly reasoning and dramaturgical lassitude, but at least one actor tries to spice it up. There are certainly other performers who emerge unembarrassed — Dench does a lovely turn from foolishness into new wisdom, for instance. But D’Arcy is as silly as the film itself and the only one who knows what movie he’s in.
63
New York Post by Johnny Oleksinski
Director Andy Goddard’s film is far too aware of its subject’s peculiarity, and every frame knows full well that something is a bit off.
63
The Associated Press by Lindsey Bahr
Six Minutes to Midnight is entertaining enough if a little underwhelming.
40
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
A lively idea for a drama, but the sheer oddity of the real-life premise slows it down.
63
It’s a trifle silly. But you don’t have to take Six Minutes to Midnight seriously to lose yourself in the pleasure of some very fine actors having a go at an old fashioned B-movie, poppycock included.
58
Six Minutes to Midnight shifts focus between classroom drama and war thriller without allowing time for either genre to take shape.