Box office
During its 17-week theatrical run, the film grossed $5,490,423 in the U.S. and Canada and $1,686,720 in other territories, for a total theatrical gross of $7,177,143. [2] It ranked 178th at the 2007 box office. [14] The film was considered a financial failure due to its $10 million budget, but was able to recoup its losses from DVD rentals and sales.
Opening in six locations in the United States on July 4, 2007, the film grossed $110,326 its opening weekend. [2] After expanding to 500 theaters on July 24, it earned $1,650,282, enough to finish in a distant 11th place at the weekend box office. [15] The film's revenue dropped by 66% its second week in wide release, earning $560,903 and falling to 18th place. [16]
Critical response
Preceding its theatrical run, Rescue Dawn received generally positive critical reviews. On the film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 90% of 162 critics' reviews of the film are positive, with an average rating of 7.5/10; the site's "critics consensus" reads: "Director Werner Herzog has once again made a compelling tale of man versus nature, and Christian Bale completely immerses himself in the role of fighter pilot (and prisoner of war) Dieter Dengler." [17] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 77 out of 100 based on reviews from 36 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [18]
| "In Rescue Dawn, filmed in the jungles of Thailand, there is never the slightest doubt we are in the jungle. No movie stars creeping behind potted shrubbery on a back lot. The screen always looks wet and green, and the actors push through the choking vegetation with difficulty. We can almost smell the rot and humidity." |
| —Roger Ebert, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times [19] |
Kirk Honeycutt, writing in The Hollywood Reporter , said actor Bale's performance was "most complex and compelling". He praised Herzog for his use of "lush jungle locations in Thailand, eloquent camera work and an unobtrusive but powerful music score", which brought to life the "story of a man in the wilderness battling the elements on his own terms". [20]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called Rescue Dawn "perhaps the most believable [movie] that Herzog has made", while exclaiming: "There is nothing in it we cannot, or do not, believe. I was almost prepared to compare it to the classic storytelling of John Huston when I realized it had crucial Herzogian differences". [19]
In the San Francisco Chronicle , Walter Addiego wrote that the film was "an old-fashioned prisoner-of-war movie that becomes much more because of writer-director Werner Herzog's admiration for the remarkable true story of its protagonist, Dieter Dengler". He thought the director "found an actor capable of conveying the Herzog-ian hero—wounded, a holy fool, a crackpot, a dreamer of outsized dreams—in everyone." [21]
Scott Bowles of USA Today said the film was "cold and unforgiving and chilling to behold". He declared: "War stories don't get much more harrowing or detached than Rescue Dawn, and that's both blessing and curse for the Werner Herzog film." [22]
The film was not without its detractors, however. Rick Groen of The Globe and Mail , felt that "The strangely hybrid result, half Herzog and half Hollywood, plays like its own battleground. Sometimes, the tension is fascinatingly productive; other times, all we get is the worst of both worlds". [23] Equally unimpressed was Paula Nechak of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer , who called Rescue Dawn "a noble effort that can't quite make itself unique in a saturated genre", adding that Herzog "already has covered much of the tropical terrain of his long-delayed action film in his 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs To Fly". [24] Alternatively, J. Hoberman of The Village Voice , said the film "rivals Apocalypto as a jungle marathon, has all this and more". He also noted that "Bale even looks authentically starved (as in The Machinist ). But seeing Dengler's adventure staged hardly seems more real than hearing his account—although, as conventionally framed and lit as it is, Rescue Dawn is the closest thing to a 'real' movie that Herzog has ever made." [25]
Writing for The New York Times , Matt Zoller Seitz said the "story’s basis in fact doesn’t inoculate it against charges of predictability. Klaus Badelt’s score can be intrusively emphatic. And the triumphant ending—in which Dengler is welcomed back to his carrier with applause and speeches—is disappointingly conventional". [26] Overall though, he did commend the film, stating, "'Rescue Dawn' is a marvel: a satisfying genre picture that challenges the viewer’s expectations". [26]
James Berardinelli, writing for ReelViews , called Rescue Dawn, "a solid effort from Herzog that fans of the genre should actively seek out" and noted that "Herzog understood when he made Little Dieter Needs to Fly that the ex-pilot's story would make an excellent feature. It's surprising it has taken him so long to make that movie." [27] Berardinelli also commented that "Christian Bale continues to amaze with his ability and range. He may be the most versatile under-40 performer today. No role seems to be beyond him, and he has worked with some of the best directors of his era". [27]
Describing some pitfalls, Elizabeth Weitzman of the NY Daily News said there was "an odd emotional disconnect leading up to the climactic escape, which can be traced directly to the performances". [28] Although quick to admit that "Herzog builds suspense from the start, and the movie is shot spectacularly", [28] ultimately, Weitzman was disappointed, saying: "There is a great movie in Werner Herzog's Vietnam saga, Rescue Dawn. Unfortunately, it's about 30 minutes too long. Although the rest of this based-on-truth adventure is woven with powerful moments, only toward the end will it hold you completely in its grip."
| "In a story that begs for some introspection and understanding of what is going on inside its lead character, this Dieter has only the Tom Cruise cockiness that made Top Gun such an iconic experience for filmgoers in the '80s. But by now we've seen the formulaic pattern again and again in summer blockbusters ..." |
| —Paula Nechak, writing in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer [24] |
Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post called Rescue Dawn "an original addition to the war film canon. It's an instant classic of the form, a portrait of courage and sacrifice at their most stirring, but subversively resisting cant and cliche". [29] She believed that "such a masterful depiction of American heroism and can-do spirit has been created by a German art film director known for considerably darker visions of obsession is an irony Herzog no doubt finds delicious", [29] and also emphasized how "There's a sense of austerity underlying Rescue Dawn, all the more admirable for being so rare in Hollywood storytelling." [29] Similarly, David Ansen wrote in Newsweek that "Rescue Dawn is a Werner Herzog movie (and a true story), and though it's as taut and exciting as many edge-of-your-seat Hollywood escape movies, there's a mania about Dieter that sets him apart, a wild-eyed bravado that suggests the line between bravery and complete lunacy is a thin one." [30]
Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune , however, was not moved by the storytelling, writing: "Rescue Dawn is Herzog's first English-language screenplay, and this is part of its problem: The hushed conversations between prisoners sound only fitfully idiomatic. Also – crucially – Herzog can't find a way to make his own big finish feel authentic, even if things did happen roughly this way." [31] On the other hand, critic Leonard Maltin praised the film, which he called a "Gripping reworking of Herzog's 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly", and an "edge-of-your-seat POW story". [32]
Various critics included the film on their lists of the top 10 best films of the year, such as V. A. Musetto of the New York Post , who called it one of the best films of 2007. [33]
