Chicago Sun-Times by Richard Roeper

A first-rate post-World War I drama with a heavy dose of sentiment and a gripping storyline.

Total Film

The film’s only let down by its too-frequent recourse to narrative cliché.

Total Film by Philip Kemp

The film’s only let down by its too-frequent recourse to narrative cliché.

New York Post by Sara Stewart

Crowe makes the most of his own quiet presence, and this ode to the world’s never-recovered soldiers and their families is a fitting meditation on the insanity of war.

TheWrap by Inkoo Kang

Crowe’s beauty-seeking, but exoticizing camera is slightly outmatched by his performance, which anchors the film with regret tinged with hope. But what continues to haunt after the credits finish rolling are the film’s explorations of the trauma of life after war: The brutally quick political shifts, the lingering shame of committing vicious and dishonorable acts, and the bitter knowledge that there’s no such thing as lasting peace.

Rolling Stone by Peter Travers

In The Water Diviner, Crowe strives to strike a universal chord about the futility of war. Simplistic? Maybe. But in crafting a film about the pain a parent feels after losing a child in battle, Crowe transcends borders and politics. It's not war being honored here, it's sacrifice and inconsolable loss. I'd call that a substantial achievement.

San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle

Crowe is not messing around here, not trying to dream up opportunities to throw himself another close-up. He’s a genuine director.

Screen Daily

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.

The Hollywood Reporter

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 Hollywood Reporter by Megan Lehmann

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.

Screen Daily by Frank Hatherley

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.

Arizona Republic by Bill Goodykoontz

The story takes some unexpected turns, which Crowe handles well, without overplaying them. Overall, The Water Diviner is a solid effort, a good, old-fashioned movie when it's not delving into soap opera.

Movie Nation by Roger Moore

The 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.

The Guardian

A handsome crowdpleaser with a big heart.

Time Out London by Cath Clarke

The Water Diviner is solid and old-fashioned.

Empire

It’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.

Variety by Eddie Cockrell

An 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.

Observer by Rex Reed

As a director, Mr. Crowe’s camera meanders all over the place; as an actor, he mumbles and growls his way through the carnage like it was nothing more important than a re-make of Gladiator, filmed on old sets from Gene Autry westerns.

Slant Magazine by Matt Brennan

In 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.