3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[With] astonishingly dark, whiplash-inducing action scenes....Caching its polemic within a tough-minded entertainment."
Premiere

"[DiCaprio] plays the smuggler as the scum he is....A character who has inspired the most fully sustained performance of his adult life."
New York Times

3 stars out of 5 -- "Crammed full of exhilarating set-pieces and panoramic photography, it also included the DiCaprio role most likely to snag Best Actor..."
Total Film

"It is clear that the film-makers have done an enormous amount of research on their subject.....Individual sequences -- such as the massacre that opens the movie -- are staged in bravura but chilling fashion."
Sight and Sound

"[DiCaprio] commands the heavy attention of a performer comfortable in his own actorly skin."
Box Office

4 stars out of 5 -- "This is Hollywood thriller at its best but one that also delivers a powerful moral message about Western greed, capitalism and exploitation."
Ultimate DVD