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67
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Entertainment Weekly
Rising above the throng is the great wreck of Sir Peter Ustinov, who, as the canny, saucy German Prince Frederick, distinguishes both himself and the movie.
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63
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Boston Globe Wesley Morris
The film winds up stranding us in a desperate wilderness of collapse and betrothal.
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63
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Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
An entertaining history lesson. That is, a history lesson that synopsizes and simplifies a complex life and complicated times into easily digestible panels of action, intrigue, martyrdom and sticking it to the papacy.
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63
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Chicago Tribune
Aside from a couple of unintelligible conversations with himself, there's barely any God here. The film would rather just be inclusive. Luther might have wanted it that way, but as moviegoers, it's hard not to want more.
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60
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Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
After a summer of numbing mindlessness, there is something frankly refreshing about a movie that deals even superficially with as significant a figure as the rebellious 16th century theologian Martin Luther, one of the founders of Protestantism and the man who put the reform in the Reformation.
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60
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Washington Post
It's just unfortunate that a movie about such a daring man ultimately takes few risks.
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50
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Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Who was Joseph Fiennes channeling when he chose this muddled tone? Obviously he was reluctant to gave a broad, inspirational performance of the kind you find in deliberately religious films.
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50
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New York Daily News Jack Mathews
But for that one bright, incongruous yuk-fest in the classroom, Luther is deadly material, full of self-righteousness and devoid of balance.
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50
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San Francisco Chronicle
Disjointed.
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40
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The New York Times Stephen Holden
As the film veers uncertainly between meticulous historical recapitulation and shameless hokum, it brings enough characters to populate a mini-series. When the historical details become too clogged, the movie shamelessly overcompensates by wallowing in cheap sentimentality.
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