They Shall Not Grow Old isn’t just a compelling motion picture; it’s an important slice of cinema.
amny.com January 10, 2019 Jackson’s use of editing is extraordinary.
Associated Press January 16, 2019 It’s just images and the voices of those who were there, telling their own stories.And the result is riveting – an immersive, haunting a...
For the first time, those jittery, frenetic figures in ancient newsreels look and move like people you know.
Detroit News February 1, 2019 It’s a true act of revival.
Irish Times November 9, 2018 For the most part, the larger arc is familiar. It’s obscure nuances that really set you back.
The Atlantic December 21, 2018 The technology Jackson deploys is so advanced that the documentary, which has been colorized and enhanced, captures a surprising degree of cha...
What a superb way to remember the centenary of the end of the war. Hail Peter.
Sight & Sound January 29, 2019 Jackson’s project seems to me truly phantasmagoric, in Walter Benjamin’s terms. A 'strange meeting', to invoke Wilfred Owen&rsquo...
Jackson would surely concede that the act of slowing and colouring in the archive film is a means to an end. It is a way of bringing the story of t...
Times (UK) October 16, 2018 It’s the visual and emotional achievement - a groundbreaking resurrection – that resonates.
812filmreviews December 15, 2018 They Shall Not Grow Old is a fascinating exposition, told with reverence and stunning colorization, of these men who fought the war they thoug...
Times (UK) November 12, 2018 Colourising and enhancing the footage and using lip-readers to decipher soldiers' words, which were dubbed by actors, was done to jaw-dropping effect.
Jackson’s film is more than a technical tribute: it’s a testament to the bravery and camaraderie of the soldiers, the memory...
Financial Times November 7, 2018 Visceral, invasive, dauntless, unnerving, the film’s delving hands and eyes take us into war front trenches palpitating with humanity and mor...
RogerEbert.com December 14, 2018 Once again, [Jackson] has translated something that’s growing ancient into a series of images and ideas a modern audience will be able t...
The Guardian November 11, 2018 Jackson has done something quite remarkable: using 21st-century technology to put the humanity back into old movie stock. The result is utterly bre...
New York Times January 31, 2019 Peter Jackson has taken a mass of World War I archival clips from Britain’s Imperial War Museum and fashioned it into a brisk, absorbing...
Daily Telegraph October 17, 2018 It is an encounter with the past that feels exhilaratingly present-tense.
Austin Chronicle January 31, 2019 Ultimately, it’s a you-are-there time capsule of enormous emotional and historical importance.
Nothing feels too sentimentalized or sanitized, but nor is it sensationalized for extra shock value either. These are the true accounts of survivor...
filmcomment.com October 30, 2018 On one level a sincere memorial in images and sound. On another, like all his work, it is first and foremost a special effects movie…The...
The Guardian October 16, 2018 As an act of popular history, They Shall Not Grow Old is outstanding.
Chicago Reader December 10, 2019 This is as close as we can get to a full immersion into one of the most horrifying and ultimately pointless wars in modern history.
Times (UK) November 19, 2018 With no narration, just primary sources, but also with authenticity coming through the artifice of recreated image and sound, it was quite unlike a...
Perhaps surprisingly, with a blockbuster merchant at the helm, little here is rousing or sentimental; the film’s mordant intimacy of per...
Now, 100 years later, the dead speak to us. And finally, we can understand…to a degree.
Rolling Stone January 30, 2019 In this profound documentary event, Peter Jackson creates digital miracles-in 3D yet-to revitalize archival footage of World War I until faded...
New Yorker February 22, 2019 "They Shall Not Grow Old" is a nearly great talking-head documentary in which the talking heads are never seen, only heard.
They Shall Not Grow Old is stupendously humane, the polar opposite of propaganda.
There’s a lot to debate here, and a lot to admire.
TheWrap December 14, 2018 By thoughtfully employing cutting-edge technology, Jackson has instead created an essential portal connecting audiences of the present to his subje...
indieWire October 16, 2018 They Shall Not Grow Old arrives as clinching proof of just how far Peter Jackson has traveled in three decades.
Empire Magazine November 9, 2018 An emotionally rich documentary that wows both as a technical achievement and an unforgettable portrait of a terrible period of 20th century h...
Little White Lies November 9, 2018 This is a hugely engaging and worthy project, filled with extraordinary tales of camaraderie, courage and unwavering conviction.
As a work of ethical, empathetic exhumation, They Shall Not Grow Old is a model.
San Diego Reader December 14, 2018 An achievement, an experience, and a remarkable tribute.
Globe and Mail December 21, 2018 A powerful tribute to every veteran and one of the most empathetic portraits of war ever created.
Independent October 17, 2018 You might have thought there was nothing new to say about the First World War but Peter Jackson’s astonishing and revelatory new feature docu...
Los Angeles Times December 16, 2018 "They Shall Not Grow Old" is a tribute paid by the present to the past, and what a gorgeous gift it turns out to be.
