Most critics agree that Rendition has chosen a subject worth the trouble: extraordinary rendition and the intersecting lives of those caught up in it. Even the cooler reviews grant that the film is earnest and well intentioned, and the warmer ones call it powerful and provocative, with the murky politics of the war on terror giving the drama a convincing backdrop. Praise for the acting settles on Jake Gyllenhaal, whom Eye for Film singles out as well cast, and Total Film finds the performances convincing and the final turn earned.
The reservations are about the drama rather than the subject. The commonest complaint is flatness: Empire says the slick visuals cannot make the separate storylines cohere, and Variety goes further, calling the film dull and faulting low-key performances from Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon. The New York Times finds it dramatically unconvincing, and even the sympathetic Eye for Film says the subplot slows the pace and the ending strains belief. The spread is wide, with the middle settling on three stars.