Critics Scoreboard
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Average Critic Score:
67
(31 sources)
67
(31 sources)
-
100
San Francisco Chronicle
Fascinating in its depiction of presidential leadership in action. Read Full Review » -
100
Baltimore Sun
A terrifically engrossing war film in which not a single shot is fired, a movie about shaping events rather than being shaped by them. Read Full Review » -
91
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91
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88
New York Daily News
An excellent movie about a real-life nail-biter, forcefully acted, true to its period and directed with clarity. Read Full Review » -
83
Portland Oregonian
One of the most exciting American movies about recent political history since, ironically, Oliver Stone's "JFK." Read Full Review » -
80
Newsweek
Keeps you hanging on every twist and turn of its wilder-than-fiction plot. Read Full Review » -
75
Boston Globe
It turns the nerve-fraying Cuban missile crisis into a big pop myth with the grip of a vise. Read Full Review » -
75
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75
USA Today
Once this 2 1/4-hour slow-starter finally finds its rhythm, we're reminded of how gripping policy give-and-take around a long rectangular table can be. Read Full Review » -
75
Charlotte Observer
Greenwood, whose range has carried him from the lonely widower of "The Sweet Hereafter" to the creepy husband of "Double Jeopardy," gives a star-making performance. Read Full Review » -
75
Chicago Sun-Times
I call the movie a thriller, even though the outcome is known, because it plays like one: We may know that the world doesn't end, but the players in this drama don't, and it is easy to identify with them. Read Full Review » -
75
New York Post
Plays like a very good TV movie. Short on visual flair and starpower, Thirteen Days is not the definitive story of the Cuban missile crisis, but it's an engrossing historical lesson nonetheless. Read Full Review » -
75
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75
Christian Science Monitor
The subject is so gripping that you almost forgive the filmmakers for skewing their material in order to keep Costner's pretty face at the center of everything that happens. Read Full Review » -
70
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70
Los Angeles Times
Dealing with all these crises and decisions gives Thirteen Days a surprising amount of tension and watchability for a story whose outcome we already know. Read Full Review » -
70
TNT RoughCut
Greenwood gives a nuanced performance that may be the film's best work, but at times his surface dissimilarities to JFK are jarring. Read Full Review » -
70
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70
New York Magazine
I much prefer the whacked-out, Dr. Strangelove-ish brand of political-apocalypse film to all this straitlaced you-are-there dramaturgy, which seems a throwback to the early sixties not only in time but in spirit. But what Thirteen Days sets out to do it does admirably. Read Full Review » -
70
Time
The players don't particularly look like their historical models, but they make us feel their life-threatening pain and puzzlement. Read Full Review » -
67
Austin Chronicle
A suspenseful breath of fresh air following on the heels of one of the dumbest Hollywood summers in recent memory. Read Full Review » -
65
Mr. Showbiz
Assiduous, temperate, and a lot more honest about government and politicians than any other Hollywood film of the last few decades, Thirteen Days is nevertheless too little, too late. Read Full Review » -
60
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60
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60
Washington Post
Like President Kennedy, director Donaldson (who made "No Way Out," another pretty good Washington-seat-of-power thriller) has found a perfect balance of often-opposing forces: between recorded history and the demands of plain old entertainment. Read Full Review » -
60
The New York Times
Kevin Costner is suitably flinty in 13 Days, a competent, by-the-numbers recreation of the events surrounding the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. Read Full Review » -
60
Chicago Reader
This thriller is a lot better than you might expect--especially for a Kevin Costner vehicle. Read Full Review » -
50
Dallas Observer
The efficiency of his (Donaldson) direction renders the movie somewhat characterless, like a top-rank made-for-TV production. Read Full Review » -
30
Film.com
This overdone project dissipates its energy in strange ways (sudden shifts to black-and-white, as though hailing the spirit of Oliver Stone and that other Costner JFK movie), and makes you wish its makers had shown the same restraint the government did during the crisis. Read Full Review » -
30
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