Endgame

The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley

Facts are telescoped and trimmed without unduly distorting history, but what the narrative does best is frame a decisive moment and zoom in on the ordinary people who worked the sidelines of an extraordinary breakthrough.

TV GuideMatt Roush

Sounds dry, but the tension is sustained throughout. Even though we know the end result, there is plenty to be gained by this gripping dramatic lesson in political science.

Boston GlobeJames F. Smith

The characters and settings are true to that recent past, gritty and ripping with tension.

Los Angeles TimesMary McNamara

Certainly, the talks had an impact, but the extraordinary power of the film comes not from the political outcome or even the welcome reminder that where once tyranny reigned, now it does not. At its very best, television plays the careful miniaturist, showing how a personal decision quietly made or a small step reluctantly taken can alter the course of a life, and a nation.

USA TodayRobert Bianco

The movie itself is one of those projects that just shimmers with good intent, so much so that it seems almost antisocial to point out that it's not nearly as good as it could or should be.

Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan

The phrase “unlikely heroes” comes to mind while watching this film, but that phrase implies a mawkishness that “Endgame” resolutely avoids, while allowing the characters’ doubts and fears to come through.

Entertainment WeeklyJessica Shaw

Sometimes it's enough to see great actors do their thing, and the performances in this historical drama about South Africa in the 1980s are so powerful that you're almost willing to overlook the film's flaws.

San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman

The real power of Paula Milne's screenplay is that it avoids oversimplifying the moral complexities at the heart of the negotiations.

New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley

A movie on the backstage drama that preceded the fall of apartheid in South Africa may sound like one of those productions that's important, but less than riveting. So it's heartening to report that largely thanks to first-class performances by William Hurt and Chiwetel Ejiofor, Endgame turns out to be both.