Still enigmatic is the figure of Shackleton himself. The film conveys his remarkable leadership without explaining (beyond a because-it's-there romanticism) what would compel such a journey in the first place.
Stream The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Philadelphia Inquirer by Carrie Rickey
Makes for the most thrilling action movie of the year.
Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern
A marvelous story.
Baltimore Sun by Michael Sragow
A great adventure.
San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle
A remarkable documentary about an almost unfathomable ordeal.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Paula Nechak
Even knowing the happy outcome, Butler masterfully keeps us on the edge of our seats, and communicates the full horror and seeming hopelessness of the crew's situation every step of the way.
This is a curious example of taking a hair-raising story and draining the drama from every corner, leaving it a bit flat and ultimately forgettable.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
What made Shackleton's adventure so immediate to later generations was that he took along a photographer, Frank Hurley, who shot motion picture film and stills.
TV Guide Magazine by Stephen Miller
Documentarian George Butler ("Pumping Iron") wisely opted to stick to the cold, hard facts of the expedition's tale while layering in warmer material, like interviews with historians and descendants of the crew and narrator Liam Neeson's lilting bedtime-story delivery.