RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Found a Bug? Squash It! Report Bugs Here
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Home of the Brave
Home of the Brave

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Home of the Brave (2006)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
23 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:53

Fresh:12

Rotten:41

Average Rating:4.2/10

Consensus: The ensemble cast works hard, but hammy direction and a script lacking in nuance ruins this movie’s noble intentions.

Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Synopsis: The Vietnam War provided plenty of cinematic ruminations on the futility of battle and the struggle of returning soldiers to adjust to normal life. With HOME OF THE BRAVE director Irwin Winkler... The Vietnam War provided plenty of cinematic ruminations on the futility of battle and the struggle of returning soldiers to adjust to normal life. With HOME OF THE BRAVE director Irwin Winkler (THE NET) applies similar concepts to the Iraq War of the early 21st century, positing actors Samuel L. Jackson, Jessica Biel, Brian Presley, and 50 Cent (credited here under his real name, Curtis Jackson) in the roles of army recruits who tussle with the mundanity of life after war. The action begins during the heat of battle, with an ambush that leaves many of its victims either dead or wounded. Winkler subsequently transports the action to the struggles his characters endure once safely back home, with alcoholism, prosthetic limbs, parental abuse, and a hostage crisis all causing innumerable problems, none of which are helped by a military that remains uninterested in their frantic pleas for help and guidance. Winkler infuses his film with an equal mixture of anger and grief, and while he may not reach the heights of Oliver Stone's BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY or Michael Cimino's THE DEER HUNTER, he draws on similar frustrations felt by the characters in those movies. HOME OF THE BRAVE was shot while the violence still raged in Iraq, which will doubtless make it a fascinating curio in years to come, especially as this denied Winkler a distance from his subject that many of the filmmakers who masterfully dissected the Vietnam War undoubtedly benefited from. [More]

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Curtis Jackson, Jessica Biel, Christina Ricci

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Curtis Jackson, Jessica Biel, Christina Ricci, Chad Michael Murray

Director: Irwin Winkler

Director: Irwin Winkler
Producer: Rob Cowan, Randall Emmett, George Furla
Composer: Stephen Endelman
Studio: MGM

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
  • Trailer
    >
1 of 1

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Reviews for Home of the Brave

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

The war in Iraq gets a lathery soft soap treatment in producer-cum-director Irwin Winkler's distortion of emotions and realities associated with a group of returning soldiers.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
04/24/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
05/16/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile

Obvious, plodding, cloying and politically innocuous.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment 1 Comment
04/16/08
John Anderson
John Anderson
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

...there's certainly no denying the effectiveness of one unintentionally hilarious moment in which Biel's spurned boyfriend exclaims, "I guess it only takes one hand to push people away!"

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
11/09/07
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

Patriotic claptrap masquerading as a touchy-feely salute to the troops.

Full Review Source: Mount Desert Islander | comment Comment
11/08/07
Kam Williams
Kam Williams
Mount Desert Islander

While the film tries to be sensitive to the people's plight, it does itself (and the soldiers) a disservice by presenting them as brittle, emotionally fragile victims.

Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | comment Comment
10/25/07
Kevin Carr
Kevin Carr
7M Pictures

Missed opportunity for some cutting irony on behalf of indigenous people who have always been the victims in one way or another, of dubious celebrations like Thanksgiving, the laborers are instead merely a dramatic device - wallpaper really.

Full Review Source: WBAI Radio | comment Comment
10/21/07
Prairie Miller
Prairie Miller
WBAI Radio

Shows some significant strengths but ultimately misses the mark due to incompletely developed characters and hesitation to hit home as hard as the subject matter justifies.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
10/20/07
Brian Webster
Brian Webster
Apollo Guide

This is morose, head-shaking stuff, and director Irwin Winkler (Life as a House, De-Lovely) isn't one to ease up on the 'ol emotional manipulation button.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
09/18/07
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

It often undercuts its nobler goals by resorting to hammy dialogue and unnecessarily melodramatic contrivances.

Full Review Source: Capital Times (Madison, WI) | comment Comment
05/25/07
Rob Thomas
Rob Thomas
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

a clunky movie lacking subtlety, and full of bad dialogue that tries too hard to get its point across.

Full Review Source: WaffleMovies.com | comment Comment
05/10/07
Willie Waffle
Willie Waffle
WaffleMovies.com

I must say the best thing about the movie is that it's interested in the soldiers, not the self-serving popinjays who seem to think the war is a big fat career-enhancing photo opportunity. The people who got shot at deserve most of the attention.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
05/10/07
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
Washington Post

A laughably clichéd, melodramatic, Oscar-courting prestige pic.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
02/25/07
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Slant Magazine

Earnest but lazy, fitfully laughable and insulting, Home of the Brave is cowardly work.

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
02/03/07
Stephen Garrett
Stephen Garrett
Time Out New York

The cast is certainly worthy and they are clearly committed to their roles, but unfortunately HOME OF THE BRAVE just misses the mark.

Full Review Source: Murphy's Movie Reviews | comment Comment
01/11/07
Ted Murphy
Ted Murphy
Murphy's Movie Reviews

Sure, it's earnest -- sure, it's melodramatic. Yup, it's just barely this side of being a made-for-Lifetime TV soaper. But there's a mesmerizing power to this little film that comes from its sheer un-told-ness, from its right-now immediacy.

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
01/02/07
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

Without question, an important, thought- and emotion-provoking film, certain to be controversial, and to be remembered.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Insiders | comment Comment
12/30/06
Janos Gereben
Janos Gereben
Entertainment Insiders

[Director] Winkler clearly loves these characters, and if he sometimes pushes too hard in his effort to make the audience share his affection it's forgivable under the circumstances.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
12/30/06
Jim Hemphill
Jim Hemphill
Reel.com

A predictable and not-bold-enough account of the struggles of a band of National Guard soldiers after returning home from the war in Iraq.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
12/24/06
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Important subject, good intentions, bad movie...its sheer ineptitude trumps its noble aspirations.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
12/22/06
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
all

Latest News for Home of the Brave

October 23, 2007: RT on DVD: Hostel II Oozes Onto Shelves, and Criterion Serves Up Breathless!
It's a bit of a slow week for home video releases, led by Eli Roth's torture-for-hire gore fest (Hostel II). Thankfully, Criterion has another wave of beautifully restored... More...

May 12, 2007: Trailer & Poster review Opens in new window
More...

December 19, 2006: RTIndie: Suit-Seeking Bob Dylan Isn't the Only One Against "Factory Girl"
Much has been made lately of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's demands to screen the Weinstein Co.'s upcoming Oscar hopeful, but it's only the latest in a growing trend of troubling... More...

December 14, 2006: Box Office Guru Preview: Dragons and Webs Duke It Out at Theaters
Hollywood studios try to inject some juice into the North American box office this weekend by unleashing three big new releases aimed at getting people back into the habit of... More...

See All

More DVDs

Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
15% 15% The Ugly Truth
98% 98% Up
36% 36% G.I. Joe: The Rise of …
52% 52% The Taking of Pelham 1…
45% 45% Ice Age: Dawn of the D…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
68% 68% Funny People
25% 25% Four Christmases
45% 45% Shorts

More New Releases…

What’s Hot On RT

Prince of Persia

Prince of Persia

Your first look at the swashbuckler.

Vampires

Vampires

We rank cinema's bloodsuckers.

Avatar

Avatar

The full trailer for Cameron's epic.

2012

2012

12 facts about Emmerich's disaster flick.

Other News

  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • First Look (Sort Of) at New Nightmare's Freddy Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com
11
  • First Look at Shrek Forever After Source: USA Today
32
  • Woody Harrelson Will Battle Zombies in 3-D Source: Moviehole
16
  • Natalie Portman Says Kat Denning Is in Thor Source: MTV
34
  • Disney Restructuring Has Broad Implications Source: Los Angeles Times
10
  • Joel Silver Talks Ninja Assassin, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and More Source: Collider.com
1
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
116
  • Idris Elba Joins Thor Source: Hollywood Reporter
112
  • Jackass 3D Coming in 2010? Source: Collider.com
32
  • 6 Reasons 'Twilight' Is Doomed Source: The Wrap
64
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: New Moon Shatters Records
176
  • Critics Consensus: New Moon Wanes
130
  • Total Recall: Star-Crossed Lovers
75
  • Total Recall: John Travolta's Best Movies
74
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
58
  • Critics Consensus: Flee From Ninja Assassin
37
  • Friday Harvest: New Moon, Avatar, and more!
32
  • Five Favorite Films With Zombieland Director Ruben Fleischer
17
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
13
  • Ho, ho, ho! It's RT's Great Big Gift Guide!
0
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
13
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
9
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
19
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
6
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
20
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Home of the Brave at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Home of the Brave at IGN
  • Home of the Brave at AskMen

Fresh Links

Featured
RT on YouTube
RT on YouTube External Link

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

RT on Twitter
RT on Twitter External Link

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.