60
Anchored by a steadfast James Norton, Mr. Jones doesn’t grip as it should, but is a timely, well-made reminder about the importance of reporting the truth when the world doesn’t believe you.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
50
Mr. Jones is stymied by the clarity of its hero’s crusade. Exasperatingly scattershot for most of its long running time, this restless and misshapen film suggests its director’s nagging discomfort with a straightforward history lesson.
60
The Hollywood Reporter by David Rooney
Nothing on either side comes close to the trenchancy or grim poetry of Jones' harrowing odyssey, which is as it should be. But there's also no reason for all the political obstructionism and journalistic frustration to be so windy.
70
As drama, Mr. Jones sometimes struggles to get out of its own way, but its message still lands with concrete force.
70
Screen Daily by Jonathan Romney
With a cast impressively headed by James Norton, and cinematography that captures the bleakness of winter and deprivation to grimly palatable effect, Holland’s drama comes across in part as a meticulously mounted, sometimes solemn history lesson.
88
The film is an unnervingly beautiful tribute to the lives lost during the Holodomor, and to the people who have seen the world for what it is, instead of the dream of it they’re instructed to believe.
80
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
Mr Jones is a bold and heartfelt movie with a real Lean-ian sweep.
60
If a subplot showing Orwell writing ‘Animal Farm’ as he becomes persuaded by Jones’s evidence doesn’t entirely work, there’s plenty in this thoughtful journalism drama that does. And not a single scene in a car park.
80
The Observer (UK) by Wendy Ide
A subplot about George Orwell is perhaps surplus to requirements, but otherwise the film is a striking, efficient political thriller.