Made in docudrama fashion by filmmaker Michael Winterbottom, A Mighty Heart is a stirring, urgent film buoyed by a tremendous performance from Angelina Jolie. It is presented in a clear-cut, straightforward way, and there is no manipulation (emotional or political) present. Jolie is excellent at portraying the complexities of Mariane Pearl, from her diverse accent, to her tightly held together hope for her husband's whereabouts. It is because of her performance that the scene of Mariane's emotional catharsis after learning of Daniel's fate is so haunting. This is not a perfect motion picture, but it takes chances and Jolie's performance gives the film added depth. B+

Awfully boring movie with nary a surprise in sight since we know the ending going in. Angelina Jolie detracts from the film because it's difficult to separate what is very obviously a glamorous movie star from the character she plays. Her accent that comes and goes doesn't help matters.

Grade: D

is it because no heads got chopped off?

No. It's because it was drably filmed, poorly acted, and very slow-moving.

Do you even pay attention to anything? I loved Bridge to Terabithia, Pride & Prejudice, and many others and no heads were chopped off in those. Stop being a troll looking for a fight.

The film didn't do much for me overall, but Jolie's performance is quite good and carries it to the end.

B-

B+


I went in, expecting a very mediocre movie with a great performance, but what I got was far more than that. It was actually an intense and quite interesting flick about a personal tradegy of a woman, but also a movie that dealt closely with the investigations that took place during the kidnapping. I found the proceedings to be quite interesting and involving for the most part and while the film did lose its focus from time to time, not knowing whether to focus on Marianne's anxiety and fear or on the investigations, it delivers an all-in-all solid package of both. The movie doesn't try to make any kind of explicit poltitical statement and I admire it for that. There are no evil Americans here or evil Arabs, just people doing their job to find the kidnapped reporter and both countries (Paksitan and the USA) working together in order to achieve that.

A lot praise been heaped upon Jolie's performance here and I'd say that it's al well-deserved. She delivered by the far best female performance I've seen in any 2007 movie so far. A couple of times she is bordering on overacting, but just in the right moment, she manages to stay away from that. Her emotional journey of hope, fear, anger, disbelief and acceptance is a very powerful one and it builds the heart (no pun intended) of the movie. This is definitely her best turn since Girl, Interrupted and I certainly hope to see her nominated for an Oscar.

However, while I expected Jolie to be in almost every scene of the movie, this was not the case. A lot of focus was on the proceedings of the Daniel Pearl case with all of its dead ends and twists. I have a feeling that some of it was a bit too polished and overdramatized to create suspense and intensity. I can't blame it for that and for the most part it worked. The docudrama-style of the film was well-done too. For some reason, the movie did not have as much of an emotional impact on me as I expected by the end, but much rather just intersted me in the whole case all the way through. I have to give it prips for never being manipulative, however. It's pretty straightforward. Overall, I think it's an underrated movie that is good not just because of Jolie's tremendous turn. Go and check it out as soon as you can!

I agree with Lecter

I came in with pretty low expectations, but this is actually a very good little movie. It feels authentic and never goes into Hollywoodized melodrama or manipulative mode, it never becomes preachy or message-heavy, it simply tells the Pearl story on its own as an interesting drama. It's really everything eye-gouging post-9/11 films like The Kingdom and Rendition are not.

Jolie's performance is really great. The accent of course is spot on, but besides that I thought she did a great job with her reaction to the whole ordeal. Once again she keeps the lid on and stays more subtle than usual actresses in the role, even when her voice is raised, it remains believable when with a less talented performance it would not. There's one scene were the lid comes off(you can guess which one), but I didn't have as much a problem with it as I expected. I haven't seen GI in a while, but potentially this is the very best I've seen of her.

The unheralded supporting cast was pretty solid, everyone did their jobs. The pakistani side of the investigation didn't really drop off without Jolie, and Dan Futterman's role and the Pearl marriage flashbacks were relatively believable and at times warming.

I also thought it was shot pretty well(again, part of the authentic strength) and some stuff like the score, editing, and screenplay was better than I would've thought coming in.

This is a pretty good movie overall and probably one of the better films made in the post-9/11 barrage, if not the best. Though really, you could make an argument it shouldn't really be grouped in with those, it's more a personal drama than anything near propoganda.

3.5/5

I'll agree with most here. I was expecting this to be an average movie with a great performance, but it was quite good. Jolie's performance is, of course, the best thing about the movie. She absolutely embodies Pearl, providing a spot-on accent and the kind of subtle acting that is rarely seen. Her "big" scene almost brought me to tears, and even though it was one of the only times she veered from her subtle acting, it was entirely believable.

B+

Unfortunately, I don't think the search for Daniel Pearl is that compelling of a story, and thus, for me, a lot of it felt repetitive and lacked emotional tension.

But when it does focus on the relationship between the two, it's great. The scene where Mariane is lying in bed and tells herself that she has to emotionally confront Daniel's death is superb. Jolie's performance, one of quiet intensity, will end up on my Best Actress list.

B+

B+ seems to be the grade of choice for this film, heh.

I gave it a B-, but I agree with most of what's being said here. Graded it lower because the film just didn't do enough or is compelling enough for me to revisit.