---
title: "They Shall Not Grow Old: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/they-shall-not-grow-old/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/they-shall-not-grow-old"
critics_score: 80
critics_reviews: 22
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."
---

# They Shall Not Grow Old (2018): what the critics said

Critics' score 80 from 22 reviews: 17 positive, 5 mixed, 0 negative.

Most critics respond warmly to They Shall Not Grow Old, with praise centred on the restoration and colourisation of archival footage. The reviews repeatedly describe soldiers’ faces becoming recognisable as individuals, making their experiences feel immediate rather than remote. Veterans’ recorded voices draw similar approval: their humour, understatement and accounts of ordinary life give the technical work its emotional force, and even the more reserved critics find passages moving.

The spread runs from strong enthusiasm to mixed assessments, with no wholly negative verdicts. Reservations concern the limited historical and political context, and whether digital intervention helps viewers understand the past. Little White Lies questions whether the enhancements turn suffering into spectacle, while Eye for Film regards the result as artistic reinterpretation rather than restoration. Sight and Sound takes the opposing view, defending the colour, reframing and sound as effective ways of bringing viewers closer to the soldiers.

## Empire — Jonathan Pile

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 7 November 2018. 

Pile praises the documentary as a technical and emotional triumph that brings audiences closer to the realities of the Great War. He singles out the painstaking restoration and colourisation for making the soldiers feel like real people.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/shall-grow-old-review/)

## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 15 December 2018. 

Turan calls the documentary an exceptional, gorgeous tribute that makes World War I soldiers feel alive to modern viewers. He particularly praises the meticulous restoration and colorization, which transform the archival footage into a vivid human portrait.

[Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-they-shall-not-grow-old-review-20181215-story.html)

## Radio Times — Andrew Collins

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 16 October 2018. 

The critic presents the documentary as a powerful, resonant memorial. They single out its restored footage and collage of commentary for creating an immersive picture of a nation at war.

[Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/they-shall-not-grow-old-review-a-memorial-that-resonates-like-no-other-documentary/)

## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 16 October 2018. Festival review. 

Bradshaw finds the film outstanding and its effect electrifying, despite its limited focus on the Western Front. He especially praises the restored, colourised footage for bringing the soldiers’ faces and experiences vividly back to life.

[Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/oct/16/they-shall-not-grow-old-review-first-world-war-peter-jackson)

## Variety — Guy Lodge

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 16 October 2018. 

Lodge finds the documentary a dazzling, humane achievement that makes familiar history feel newly immediate. He especially praises the restored faces, which turn blurred archival figures into empathetic individuals.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/2018/film/reviews/they-shall-not-grow-old-review-peter-jackson-1202981266/)

## The Hollywood Reporter — Stephen Dalton

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 16 October 2018. Festival review. 

Dalton finds the documentary haunting, moving and consistently engaging. He particularly praises its vivid technical restoration of archival footage and its ability to humanize soldiers’ experiences.

[Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/they-not-grow-old-review-1152679/)

## The i Paper — Jeff Robson

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 11 November 2018. 

Robson calls the film a fitting tribute and says its true triumph is giving ordinary soldiers a voice. He praises the soldiers’ understated accounts of both everyday life and wartime horrors.

[Read the review](https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/they-shall-not-grow-old-review-bbc2-remembrance-day-2018-peter-jackson-219883)

## Evening Standard — Charlotte O'Sullivan

Rating 4/5. 9 November 2018. 

O’Sullivan finds the documentary humane and immersive, though its treatment of French sex workers feels cartoonish and its closing song is old-fashioned. She praises the restored, colourised footage for bringing the soldiers’ personalities and experiences vividly to life.

[Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/they-shall-not-grow-old-review-an-immersive-war-documentary-with-21st-century-zing-a3985766.html)

## Sight and Sound — Ian Christie

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 9 November 2018. 

Christie argues that Jackson’s film succeeds as an imaginative visit to the First World War past. He praises how its colour, reframing and sound make the archival footage feel immediate, while rejecting technical objections to those choices.

[Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/they-shall-not-grow-old-review-peter-jackson-brings-controversial-colour-wwi-footage)

## The New York Times — Manohla Dargis

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 31 January 2019. 

The review views the documentary as a powerful achievement. It singles out the transformed archival footage for making the soldiers’ experiences feel immediate.

[Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/movies/they-shall-not-grow-old-review.html)

## IndieWire — Mike McCahill

Rating B. 16 October 2018. Festival review. 

McCahill finds the documentary a jolting, powerful way to make the war’s archival images newly immediate, though it offers little political context. He praises the colorized footage for bringing the soldiers’ experiences vividly to modern audiences.

[Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/they-shall-not-grow-old-review-peter-jackson-world-war-one-colorized-1202012440/)

## Screen Daily — Fionnuala Halligan

Fi1m's normalised score 76/100 (inferred from the text). 16 October 2018. 

The visible text suggests an appreciative view of Jackson’s film. It singles out his act of remembrance, but the full review is unavailable.

[Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/they-shall-not-grow-old-london-review/5133679.article)

## Film Comment — Jonathan Romney

Fi1m's normalised score 66/100 (inferred from the text). 

The accessible text does not reveal the critic’s verdict. It identifies the film’s controversial colorization and other effects as central to Jackson’s attempt to revive World War I voices.

[Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/film-week-shall-not-grow-old/)

## The New Yorker — Richard Brody

Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 19 February 2019. 

Brody finds the film absorbing and deeply moving despite criticizing its visual approach and composite storytelling. He especially praises the veterans’ archival voices, whose testimony gives the film its emotional and dramatic force.

[Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/they-shall-not-grow-old-reviewed-the-indelible-voices-in-peter-jacksons-first-world-war-documentary)

## Little White Lies — Adam Woodward

Rating 4/3/3. 8 November 2018. 

Woodward finds the film technically impressive and engaging, but ultimately flawed as an exercise in historic preservation. He praises the soldiers’ humility and humour while questioning whether colourisation and digital enhancement bring the past closer or turn tragedy into spectacle.

[Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/they-shall-not-grow-old)

## Collider — Dave Trumbore

Rating A. 31 January 2019. 

Trumbore calls the documentary a necessary, deeply moving work despite its difficult viewing. He praises how restored, colorized archival footage brings the soldiers’ experiences vividly to life.

[Read the review](https://collider.com/they-shall-not-grow-old-review/)

## The Wrap

Fi1m's normalised score 95/100 (inferred from the text). 1 February 2019. 

The critic calls the documentary an essential, brilliantly realized connection to the experience of World War I soldiers. They single out Jackson’s immersive use of restored footage and veterans’ oral histories for bringing those soldiers vividly to life.

[Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/they-shall-not-grow-old-film-review-peter-jackson-wwi-documentary/)

## /Film — Hoai-Tran Bui

Rating 8.5/10. 18 December 2018. 

Bui finds the documentary both technologically dazzling and deeply human. She especially praises how the restored footage and soldiers’ faces make the people behind the war feel vividly present.

[Read the review](https://www.slashfilm.com/563063/they-shall-not-grow-old-review/)

## Polygon — Andy Crump

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 1 February 2019. 

Crump gives the documentary a strongly positive verdict, calling it an assertion of Jackson’s vitality as an artist. He particularly praises the restored, colorized footage and the film’s use of veterans’ own voices to convey both camaraderie and the brutality of war.

[Read the review](https://www.polygon.com/2019/2/1/18206812/peter-jackson-documentary-wwi-they-shall-not-grow-old-review/)

## Paste — Kenneth Lowe

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 22 March 2019. 

Lowe calls the film an unforgettable achievement in restoration, while noting that its account tells only one side of a complicated conflict. He especially praises how the restored footage makes the war’s human cost feel immediate.

[Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/they-shall-not-grow-old/they-shall-not-grow-old-is-one-side-of-a-story-unf)

## The Playlist

Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 16 October 2018. 

The URL identifies this as a review of Peter Jackson’s film, but the page content is blocked. Its verdict and any specific praise or complaint cannot be verified.

[Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/peter-jackson-shall-not-grow-old-review-20181016/)

## Eye for Film — Owen Van Spall

Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 9 November 2018. 

The critic finds the film compelling and moving at times, but considers it a well-intentioned artistic reinterpretation rather than a restoration. They praise the veterans’ candid testimony while faulting the visual and sound effects for occasional heavy-handedness.

[Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/they-shall-not-grow-old-2018-film-review-by-owen-van-spall)

---
© 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/they-shall-not-grow-old.md