The story, set in 1885, follows a British officer (Heath Ledger) who resigns his post when he learns of his regiment's plan to ship out to the Sudan for the conflict with the Mahdi. His friends and fiancée send him four white feathers which symbolize cowardice. To redeem his honor he disguises himself as an Arab and secretly saves the lives of those who branded him a coward.
What's missing, crucially, is the passion required to make this unlikely tale work.
– Peter Howell,
Toronto Star,
20 Sep 2002
rotten:
A movie that lacks the jingoistic bravura of earlier editions ... but hasn't replaced it with meaningful historical revisionism appropriate to our post-colonial age.
– Stephen Hunter,
Washington Post,
20 Sep 2002
fresh:
It's a pretty compelling yarn, not to mention full of pretty pictures, and yet it could be so much more than that.
– Michael O'Sullivan,
Washington Post,
20 Sep 2002
fresh:
Ledger does a great job in the action sequences and the more tender scenes.
– Richard Roeper,
Ebert & Roeper,
23 Sep 2002
rotten:
Kapur weighs down the tale with bogus profundities.