'The Passion of the Christ is so relentlessly focused on the savagery of Jesus' final hours that this film seems to arise less from love than from wrath, and to succeed more in assaulting the spirit than in uplifting it.'
AO Scott, New York Times

'What is profoundly disheartening is that people of goodwill will see this film in different ways. Where I see almost sadistic violence, they will see transcendence. Where I see blame, they will see truth.'
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

'A serious, handsome, excruciating film that radiates total commitment. Whatever the ultimate verdict on Gibson's Passion, it is hard not to admire Gibson's passion.'
Richard Corliss, Time magazine

'Powerfully moving and fanatically obtuse in equal doses. Gibson's immersion in the blood of Christ is an act of faith filmed with a zealot's rapture. It's a shame he has no faith in audiences to feel pain without rubbing their noses in it.'
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

'One cannot deny that Gibson has made a stunning film, beautifully photographed in contrasting dark and golden hues by Caleb Deschanel.'
Claudia Puig, USA Today

'Well-acted, technically impressive and initially moving, [but] for the most part not beautiful and certainly not ennobling.'
Jonathan Foreman, New York Post