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Taking Chance
MOVIE: HBO, Saturday 2/21 at 8:00p (77 minutes)
Starring
Kevin Bacon,
Tom Aldredge,
Guy Boyd,
Gordon Clapp,
Mike Colter,
Ann Dowd,
Noah Fleiss,
and
Enver Gjokaj
In this movie based on the real events, Kevin Bacon is Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, a marine faced with the duty of escorting the body of a killed-in-action soldier back home to the United States.
| GENRE(S): |
Drama,
True Story
|
| CREATED BY: |
Lt. Col. Michael Strobl
Ross Katz
|
| FIRST AIR DATE: |
February 21, 2009 |
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...
100
Baltimore Sun David Zurawik
Taking Chance, an elegiac chronicle of the final journey home for a 19-year-old Marine killed in Iraq, is one of the most eloquent and socially conscious films the premium cable channel has ever presented.
100
USA Today Robert Bianco
A small, almost perfectly realized gem of a movie, Taking Chance is also precisely the kind of movie that TV should be making.
90
Wall Street Journal Dorothy Rabinowitz
The film remains, to the end, exemplary in its focus on the journey home of the unbearably young Marine, Chance Phelps, and its effect on Col. Stroble, his escort--a portrayal that will, we can expect, earn a string of honors for Kevin Bacon, and they'll be well-deserved.
80
New York Daily News David Hinckley
It's the most singular film you're apt to see this year, and very likely the most moving.
80
Orlando Sentinel Hal Boedeker
Concise and deeply moving, Taking Chance tells a true story that has been repeated often but rarely depicted.
80
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A tearjerker in the best possible sense, HBO's Taking Chance tells a simple story with reverence and sensitivity.
80
Newark Star-Ledger Alan Sepinwall
It is simple and honest, and any and all tears come from the story itself, not from the the spare telling of it.
80
Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert
Bacon plays Strobl with a lovely stoicism that lends more emotional weight than anything the script could have him say about the tragedy of a fallen hero.
80
Los Angeles Times Mary McNamara
Taking Chance is saved from patriotic sentimentality by its attention to detail and Bacon's performance.
80
Washington Post Tom Shales
Taking Chance is both troubling and inspiring, a film in the spirit of "Saving Private Ryan" but on an artfully intimate scale--masterful in technique but with no self-referential showing off.
75
New York Post Linda Stasi
Bacon is good, as you'd expect, although the movie is almost done in mime with little dialogue....But, the reality is that this would have been a much-more fulfilling journey if we'd had more interaction between Strobe and the regular folks he meets along the way.
67
Entertainment Weekly Rob Moynihan
The film's portrayal of military ceremony is stirring, but Bacon's stiff performance distracts from the powerful moments of civilian respect for the fallen hero.
60
The New York Times Ginia Bellafante
The real Colonel Strobl’s journal is the source material for the film, and the fidelity to actual events, absent a dramatizing hand, results in a flatness that made me feel unpatriotic for feeling bored.
60
Hollywood Reporter Ray Richmond
The story's power is sufficient to overcome the occasional histrionic flourish. What it can't completely surmount is the rigid interpretation delivered by its star.
60
PopMatters Cynthia Fuchs
Drawn from Strobl’s journal, the film is occasionally episodic, but that in itself makes a point: the only way to comprehend, or at least manage death under such circumstances is to go through the steps.
50
Slant Magazine Brian Holcomb
Instead of well-drawn characters or real human drama, we are presented with a military procedural on burial traditions. The film desperately wants the viewer to shed tears for its fallen hero without giving a single dramatic reason to do so.
 The average user rating for this tv show is 9.8 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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