73
Metascore
42 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- The Impossible is one of the most emotionally realistic disaster movies in recent memory -- and certainly one of the most frightening in its epic re-creation of the catastrophic 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
- 100VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangWrenchingly acted, deftly manipulated and terrifyingly well made.
- Part of the appeal of this affecting and powerful drama is that it puts the viewer right in the moment at every stage, using authentic locations and tsunami survivors to hammer home the reality of this tragedy.
- 80Total FilmTotal FilmMarshalling formidable technique and force of feeling, Bayona's tale of courage and empathy in the face of catastrophe fulfils his debut's promise, its harrowing conviction hammered home even harder by the spot-on casting.
- 75The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenThe Impossible looks back at a natural calamity with unflinching honesty. It sees fear and pain, it sees fortitude and bravery, but mainly it sees this: In that raging instant when the sea becomes its own monster, there's precious little to separate the devoured from the spared – nothing but the thin wedge of luck.
- 75ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliThe film's adult leads, Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor, give powerful, natural performances.
- The latter half of The Impossible is so disappointingly movie-ish, tying a bow on the events after portraying them too vividly to allow them to be wrapped so neatly. It wrings out tears with an industrious efficiency that leaves you feeling manhandled after the exhilarating, terrifying footage that's unfolded before.
- 12Slant MagazineEd GonzalezSlant MagazineEd GonzalezA sham realist's disaster movie, tackily insulting the deaths of 300,000 people by reducing the horrors of the Indian Ocean tsunami to a series of genre titillations.