No review available.
Comment
07/30/02
Chariots of Fire (1981)
86
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:36
Fresh:31
Rotten:5
Average Rating:7.4/10
Consensus: Decidedly slower and less limber than the Olympic runners at the center of its story, the film nevertheless manages to make effectively stirring use of its spiritual and patriotic themes.
Synopsis: Director Hugh Hudson's absorbing drama, based on a true story, deals with the personal struggles faced by two very different long-distance runners competing for Britain in the 1924 Paris Olympic... [More]
Starring: Ian Charleson, Ben Cross, Nigel Havers, Cheryl Campbell
Director: Hugh Hudson
Reviews for Chariots of Fire
Now, 20 years later, it's dated. In some ways that actually benefits the film as its true age somehow helps its 1920s setting but other aspects suffer.
01/01/00
Lavish and uplifting sports movie driven by finely honed performances, and home to one of the most iconic sequences in 1980s British film.
01/29/08
The battered Britons may have some excuse for enjoying this nostalgic re-creation of empire ideology, but what's ours?
12/17/06
This is strange. I have no interest in running and am not a partisan in the British class system. Then why should I have been so deeply moved by Chariots of Fire?
10/23/04
Top CriticA period piece that explores timeless themes of temporal ambitions and higher purposes, of commitment and sacrifice, of ability and spirit.
02/03/05
worth watching despite providing another reason to put words "Oscar" and "overrated" in the same sentence
07/05/05
Director Hugh Hudson turns a relatively small story into a rhapsodic epic of spiritual and heroic dimensions.
02/06/05
No review available.
07/19/05
There's drama here, but it's work getting to it
02/12/05
This is quite possibly the most lyrical, most spiritual sports movie ever made.
01/01/00
No review available.
08/13/02
No review available.
12/21/04
No review available.
07/16/04
Most sport movies make winning the goal. Here, running is a metaphor for life, and the way these men run tells us volumes about their hearts.
01/15/05
This movie deservedly won the Oscars for best picture, screenplay, costume design, and music.
02/27/01
A roaringly good examination of competition, nationalism, conscience, and faith played out against a inspiring backdrop of sheer physical exertion and achievement.
11/07/02
It's an exceptional film, about some exceptional people.
05/20/03
Top CriticThe key actors all do good work, and the unlikely conflation of athletic ambition and religious controversy makes for a potent combination.
01/10/03
A bit stiff, but a genuinely engaging look at athletes with more than medals on their minds.
06/16/03
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