--- title: "Here: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/here/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/here" critics_score: 42 critics_reviews: 13 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Here (2024): what the critics said Critics' score 42 from 13 reviews: 2 positive, 5 mixed, 6 negative. Most critics find Here an ambitious experiment that does not work. The fixed camera, holding one spot across a century, is widely credited as a bold idea, and several reviews call the early stretches mesmerising. Almost nobody thinks the idea sustains a film. The complaints cluster around three things: the de-ageing of Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, which many find uncanny; the sentimentality, described repeatedly as schmaltz or treacle; and a story that reduces history to set dressing around one ordinary family. Where praise appears, it goes to the two leads, and to Wright in particular. The spread is wide. Deadline and Eye for Film treat it as a noble experiment worth the stumbles, and Empire finds some poignancy in the final act. The British broadsheets are the harshest: The Times and The Telegraph judge it close to a disaster. The middle ground, at The AV Club and Collider, settles for calling it an interesting gimmick rather than a finished film. ## Little White Lies — David Jenkins Rating 3/3/2. 16 January 2025. The critic views it as a conceptually intriguing but ultimately contrived folly that fails to land emotionally despite Zemeckis's ambition. It singles out the heavy-handed sentimentality and uncanny valley effects for complaint. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/here-2025) ## The AV Club Rating C. 31 October 2024. The critic views the film as an ambitious but undercooked experiment in non-linear storytelling that becomes simplistic and caged by clichés, lacking the source material's elegance or irony. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/here-review) ## Film Comment — Genevieve Yue Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 18 November 2024. The critic finds the film's fixed-camera, time-portal conceit compelling and technically dazzling but deems the story thin and solipsistic, with history reduced to set dressing around an ordinary hero's personal life. [Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/come-to-my-window-here-robert-zemeckis-review/) ## Slant Magazine Rating 1.5/4. 28 October 2024. The critic deems it a mawkish high-concept misfire that flattens drama through fragmented editing and broad-stroke presentation, feeling fake and over-manicured. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/here-review-tom-hanks-robin-wright/) ## The Telegraph — Tim Robey Rating 1/5. 16 January 2025. The review condemns the film as a disastrous, garish tomb and an insult to being alive, criticizing the forced main characters, crude handling of history, cringey de-ageing, and gooey schmaltz that turns the fixed-camera concept into purgatory. [Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/here-review-tom-hanks-robin-wright/) ## Vulture Fi1m's normalised score 20/100 (inferred from the text). 31 October 2024. The critic calls it the biggest pile of schmaltz of the year, with the fixed-point gimmick in service of sentimental nostalgia that fails to develop characters meaningfully. [Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/article/review-here-is-the-years-biggest-pile-of-schmaltz.html) ## The Times — Kevin Maher Fi1m's normalised score 10/100 (inferred from the text). 17 January 2025. The critic describes it as an extraordinary mess and pointless film like watching the Sims get dementia, with every decision cataclysmic, absurd de-ageing, banal stories, and a saccharine intent undermined by cruelty and emptiness. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/here-review-movie-tom-hanks-dr9vwg3j0) ## Empire — Laura Venning 17 January 2025. The critic finds the film a deeply flawed, tech-forward endeavour with an uncinematic static-camera conceit and thuddingly obvious dialogue that prompts laughter. Glimmers of human emotion and poignancy emerge in the final act from the lead performances, especially Robin Wright. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/here/) ## IndieWire — Ryan Lattanzio 26 October 2024. Festival review. The critic sees it as an earnest Forrest Gump reunion experiment spanning lifetimes from one spot, rueing time lost and gained while noting the de-aging and fixed perspective. [Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/here-movie-review-robert-zemeckis-1235060293/) ## Los Angeles Times — Katie Walsh 31 October 2024. The critic finds the fixed-camera intergenerational drama to be a pointless, treacly exercise that flattens its Forrest Gump reunion into faux-cosmic tedium with little emotional depth. The stationary vantage point and time-jumping narrative are highlighted as the central gimmick that fails to deliver insight or resonance. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2024-10-31/here-review-tom-hanks-robin-wright-robert-zemeckis) ## Radio Times Rating ★★☆☆☆. The critic sees the film as a heavy-handed Forrest Gump reunion that lands with deadening thuds despite its ambitions on time and history. It singles out the de-aging effects and overly premeditated formal conceits for complaint while noting the score and lead performances as occasional highlights. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/app/here-review-tom-hanks-and-robin-wright-cant-save-this-heavy-handed-forrest-gump-reunion/) ## Screen Daily 26 October 2024. The critic finds lyrical moments undermined by Zemeckis’s lack of restraint and questionable narrative choices in this ambitious study of lives across time. It singles out the fixed-camera perspective over a century for its potential but notes the execution undoes the moving intent. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/here-review/5198543.article) ## Sight and Sound — Guy Lodge 15 January 2025. The critic finds the film a gimmicky, overly sentimental and effects-heavy experiment that prioritizes digital fakery over genuine emotion. It singles out the uncanny de-aging of Hanks and Wright and the treacly coda for complaint while noting the fixed-camera conceit from the graphic novel source. [Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/here-one-room-journey-through-american-history-lapses-into-gimmickry) ## The Guardian 29 October 2024. The critic calls the film an eerie and embarrassing misfire, an ugly de-aged nightmare that is unforgivably dull as it follows the same house through time with banal snippets of history and lifeless sentimentality. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/oct/29/here-review-forrest-gump-reunion-movie) ## The Hollywood Reporter — David Rooney 25 October 2024. Festival review. The critic finds the fixed-camera experiment technically mesmerizing at first but ultimately inert, with a banal story and underdeveloped characters that prioritize visual gimmicks over emotional depth. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/here-review-tom-hanks-robin-wright-robert-zemeckis-1236045912/) ## The New York Times — Amy Nicholson 31 October 2024. The critic views the film as an experimental but ultimately regret-filled collage spanning billions of years from a fixed camera position, focusing on one family's disappointments rather than triumphs. The static lens and epic scope are singled out as the core formal experiment, though the narrative emphasizes duty and missed opportunities over adventure. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/31/movies/here-review.html) ## Deadline — Pete Hammond Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 26 October 2024. Festival review. The critic finds it a noble experiment and a welcome dose of originality, though it doesn’t quite work on every level. He singles out the emotional pull by the end, the performances of Hanks and Wright, and the innovative use of panels with a fixed camera. [Read the review](https://deadline.com/2024/10/here-review-forrest-gump-filmmaker-robert-zemeckis-reunites-tom-hanks-amp-robin-wright-1236159155/) ## Eye for Film — Nikola Jovic Rating 3.5/5. 11 December 2024. The critic praises Zemeckis for using the fixed perspective and time-spanning narrative to deliver a thesis on his career and explore experimental territory. It is seen as a high-ambition mainstream experiment on the passage of time, regrets, and perseverance despite technical hurdles. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/here-2024-film-review-by-nikola-jovic) ## Collider — Ross Bonaime Rating 6/10. 31 October 2024. The film is an ambitious but messy experiment that occasionally delivers heartfelt moments about family and time passing, yet feels more like an interesting gimmick than a fully realized story. The critic praises the scope and the performances of Hanks, Wright, and Bettany in the central family arc while criticizing the sprawling narrative, on-the-nose moments, and distracting secondary stories. [Read the review](https://collider.com/here-movie-review/) ## /Film — Chris Evangelista Rating 5/10. 29 October 2024. The critic views the film as an interesting experiment gone wrong. The fixed-camera concept and Forrest Gump reunion are undermined by distracting de-aging, artificial staging, and an overly bleak tone that smothers any warmth. [Read the review](https://www.slashfilm.com/1700012/here-2024-movie-review/) ## Film Stories — Ryan Lambie Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 19 March 2025. The critic calls the film a flawed but bold departure that experiments with a fixed camera and time-hopping in ways most movies avoid. The execution distances viewers from the drama through short vignettes, digital effects, and de-aging that create an uncanny valley feel. [Read the review](https://filmstories.co.uk/features/here-its-flawed-but-robert-zemeckiss-drama-is-a-bold-departure-from-convention/) ## The Wrap Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 26 October 2024. Festival review. The critic calls it a mawkish intergenerational drama that amounts to little more than a high-tech museum diorama. He singles out the underwhelming visual effects outside the main storyline, the shallow narrative, and the limited innovation in the panel technique despite the ambitious concept. [Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/here-review-robert-zemeckis-tom-hanks-robin-wright-movie/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/here.md