I got caught up in the global chess game, in the bluffing and the dares, the dangerous strategy of using nuclear blackmail against a fanatic who might call the bluff.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
1 Jan 2000
rotten:
The film begins and ends with footage of FDR intoning "I hate war," something the film takes two interminable hours to say.
– Jessica Winter,
Village Voice,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
One of the pleasures of Deterrence is that it does not tell the audience what to think.
– Mick LaSalle,
San Francisco Chronicle,
1 Jan 2000
rotten:
The talk grows tired while the tension, alas, barely grows at all. And the ending is a cheat, pure and simple.
– Eleanor Ringel Gillespie,
Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
Deterrence does serve up some wonderfully chewy pulp during its generally engaging 101 minutes, along with a certain vagueness of point-of-view.