Colin the dude’s review published on Letterboxd:
I've loved every Peter Weir movie that I've seen. The man is a legend as far as I'm concerned, yet there's still something holding me back from all-out love for this film. I was fighting back yawns in the theater and I fought back yawns on the home screen. What's to love is of course the visuals. I'd expect nothing less from Weir and he delivers some truly grand natural spectacle. You get every possible angle of landscape porn and on its own, the landscape shots are top notch. Then there's the story, which is an amazing conceit and knowing it is a true story makes it more special.
Where I lose focus with the film is the characters. There's an emotional journey taken with these people that I feel disconnected from. It's hard to pinpoint but I just sat stone-faced at the struggle for survival and there was no cathartic release at the end that Weir usually provides for me. Weir is so good with other films in showing deep-seated humanity against overwhelming circumstances so the premise of The Way Back is the perfect fit in theory but something is sorely missing for me. I really don't like Jim Sturges in anything I've seen with him and watching him put on his pouty Oscar face with a bad accent was the double whammy that shut me out from caring for him. Maybe my problem with the film is that simple. There's so many better actors I can imagine in the lead role that would make the experience ten times more powerful.