Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Sep 6, 2026 2.5/4

We naturally feel for these ill-treated characters, but it’s more of a Pavlovian reaction to the on-screen brutalities rather than anything served up in the conventional script.

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Annie Wagner The Stranger (Seattle, WA) Mar 1, 2018

Given the complex motivations at play, it's unfortunate that the script doesn't go in for much psychology and wastes precious minutes halfway humanizing Patrick's Boer rival.

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Joshua Starnes ComingSoon.net Mar 10, 2011 8/10

It doesn't quite have the adrenaline to be a great thriller, but Catch a Fire makes up for it with compelling characters and a genuinely important theme, skillfully told. There's not much else you can ask from a film than that.

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Jane Boursaw Common Sense Media Jan 1, 2011 4/5

Gritty apartheid drama pushes PG-13 limits.

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Gabe Leibowitz Film and Felt Sep 19, 2009 42/100

Movies like Catch a Fire are perhaps the most banal sort to write about.

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Amy Nicholson I.E. Weekly Jul 2, 2009 C

Noyce is now the favorite filmmaker of your local Amnesty International

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Fred Topel Hollywood.com Nov 20, 2008 3/5

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Jason Gorber Film Scouts Jun 21, 2007 C+

...as the credits rolled, I did hope for more.

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Beverly Berning culturevulture.net Apr 23, 2007

Let us hope that Noyce's influence in Hollywood will help give this film the attention it deserves, and that his newfound activism will have some effect.

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Neil Smith thelondonpaper Mar 30, 2007 3/5

Sadly, it's all a bit of a Boer about 20 years past its sell-by date and tells us little we didn't know already.Catch a Fire's sluggishly paced plot refuses to come

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Paul Arendt BBC.com Mar 23, 2007 3/5

Featuring excllent performances from Luke and Robbins, Catch A Fire is a mature, thought provoking film.

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Dave Calhoun Time Out Mar 23, 2007

At its best when making the most of the conflicts at the heart of apartheid.

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Prairie Miller WBAI Web Radio Mar 21, 2007

Revolutionary struggle in a film uniquely focused on an ordinary but remarkable man.

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Helen O'Hara Empire Magazine Mar 19, 2007 3/5

An intelligent thriller that effectively conveys the message that terrorism, even in apartheid-era South Africa, is rarely a black-and-white issue.

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Michelle Orange Reeler Feb 9, 2007

Noyce's blockbuster tour of duty has equipped him with the skills to bring some of the 20th century's most resonant stories to the masses, dressed in the lean gloss of satisfying thrillers.

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Katey Rich Film Journal International Feb 6, 2007

What biopics and issue-driven films could be if they had the guts to go beyond the easy answers.

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James O'Ehley SA Movie & DVD Magazine Jan 10, 2007

Actually serves as little else but agitprop for South Africa's ruling party . . .

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Jordan Hiller Bangitout.com Dec 31, 2006 1.5/4

The danger with films like Catch a Fire is that it wields the past purposefully as propaganda without tipping off the audience.

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Kam Williams Final Call Dec 28, 2006 1/4

Apartheid revisited, less as a repugnant racist ideology than as an ethically ambivalent philosophy.

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Robert Roten Laramie Movie Scope Dec 8, 2006 B

A story of bigotry, hatred, rebellion, forgiveness and finally, healing.

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