Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer

Philip Noyce's anti-apartheid drama is tense and thoughtful, if somewhat marred by Hollywood-style thrills.

Baltimore Sun by Chris Kaltenbach

Both a condemnation of torture as a political tool and a tribute to the bravery that exists within everyone.

Newsweek by David Ansen

Luke has real movie-star power. He's enormously sympathetic, but this moving, well-crafted movie, written by Shawn Slovo, mercifully doesn't turn him into a plaster saint.

Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum

With the same affinity for stories of culture clash he showed in "The Quiet American" and "Rabbit-Proof Fence," director Phillip Noyce embraces the tale with gusto.

ReelViews by James Berardinelli

Catch a Fire isn't edgy like some of Noyce's previous titles nor is it a big-budget endeavor with A-list stars. Instead, it's a simple and sincere tale of inspiration.

Charlotte Observer by Lawrence Toppman

Fire shows what happens when a government systematically denies rights to one racial group for decades, but its message is more current.

Miami Herald by Connie Ogle

Screenwriter Shawn Slovo -- whose white parents were anti-apartheid activists in South Africa -- ends his finely tuned screenplay on a note not of violence and anger but of forgiveness. It's a breathtaking coda that reminds us of that undeniable human beauty: the ability to survive, to fight for right -- and then move peacefully on.

Philadelphia Inquirer by Steven Rea

Luke, who had the title role in Denzel Washington's directorial debut, "Antwone Fisher," is that rare actor who can convey profound inner conflict with just a look in his eye; his performance is attuned, astute and remarkable.

New York Daily News by Jack Mathews

The movie belongs to Luke, who brings the heroic Chamusso to life as richly as Forest Whitaker does the evil Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland."

New York Post by Lou Lumenick

Luke, who seems to have been marking time since his impressive debut in the title role of Denzel Washington's "Antwone Fisher" four years ago, is fiercely good as this reluctant warrior and devoted family man.

The Hollywood Reporter

Comparisons to "Hotel Rwanda" make sense up to a point - both feature heroes who have the scales removed from their eyes - but "Fire" is no tearjerker, and here the story of Chamusso's conversion serves mainly as prologue to the main plot, a history-tinted cat-and-mouse policier in which he will attempt to finish the job he was wrongly accused of starting.

Austin Chronicle by Marc Savlov

It's always odd to see Robbins, a political activist in his own right, playing at villainy, but here he descends into the role so thoroughly that the lopsided smile becomes less a notation of cockeyed boyishness than a treacherous Cheshire smirk.

L.A. Weekly by Ella Taylor

The less rosy message of Catch a Fire is that aggression breeds aggression.

Variety by Todd McCarthy

Stories of resistance to oppression will never become obsolete, but this feels like a picture that should have been made a long time ago.

Village Voice

In the end, Catch a Fire plays like some weird hybrid on the crazy-quilt filmography of Phillip Noyce, which includes small productions made in his native Australia and the Sharon Stone sexcapade "Sliver." What it's definitely not is the standard-issue movie about apartheid; there's no white protagonist, no pale-faced hero riding in on his high horse to save the oppressed black man.

The New York Times by Manohla Dargis

It’s a film that wants to play as if it were ripped from today’s headlines, but has been shredded into near incoherence.

Washington Post by Desson Thomson

Director Phillip Noyce has made a serious movie that switches to almost popcorn entertainment.

Chicago Tribune

The horrors of apartheid deserve a better treatment than this.