It is a very well-acted picture (with a lot of emotion conveyed in the performances) that also effectively delves into the strains of marital and child relations, while at the same time the sacrifices we make to better the lives of our children.

Full Review | Jul 24, 2020

The fact that it's based on a true story - the closing credits include photographs of the actual families - does not make up for the amassing of red herrings, close calls, and occasions for head-scratching.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 20, 2020

Filmmaker Herbig and his team prove to be especially adept at contriving situations where anything anyone does causes fear, anxiety, stress and worry, leaving everyone, very much including the audience, existing on the knife's edge of unremitting tension.

Full Review | Mar 12, 2020

It's an often taut and efficiently paced thriller intent on maximizing its potential, even if that means employing cliché to heighten suspense.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 5, 2020

Captures the paranoia and excitement of its time.

Full Review | Feb 27, 2020

Balloon revels in exploring the details of every possible kind of danger these people face, so it's a nerve-wincher, a cracking good escape thriller, but that's not all it is.

Full Review | Feb 26, 2020

It's all somewhat schematic and messy, a glossy portrait of tumultuous times. It's also quite entertaining, anchored by solid performances, and a contagiously well-meaning spirit.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Feb 25, 2020

"Balloon" is decent entertainment to a degree, and that is mostly thanks to its handsome production values.

Full Review | Feb 21, 2020

[W]hen a film establishes its stakes and creates an enveloping atmosphere of paranoia as well as this one does, accuracy doesn't really matter.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 21, 2020

Lacking the nail-biting suspense that the story would seem to call for, Balloon quickly deflates.

Full Review | Feb 21, 2020

Based on [a] true story ... the film offers a gripping narrative of derring-do and innovation, as well as [a] ... portrait of the moral rot at the heart of all authoritarian regimes.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 20, 2020

There is nothing objectionable about Michael Bully Herbig's glossy political thriller, "Balloon," but there's nothing particularly exciting about it, either.

Full Review | Feb 20, 2020

It feels like an attempt to transpose the mix of thrills and prestige of a film like Argo onto a different true story, a paint-by-numbers approach that's far less compelling than drawing outside the lines would have been.

Full Review | Feb 19, 2020

Keeps you on the edge of your seat...

Full Review | Feb 18, 2020

As spellbinding, taut and poignant as The Lives of Others. It will make you stand up and cheer!

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | Feb 18, 2020

A heartwarming look at people who gave up their property and risked their lives simply in order to flee from East Berlin to the West.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Feb 16, 2020

The film becomes a kind of analysis of lifestyle shown in it, and it's tremendously interesting. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Dec 5, 2019

This is a movie for people who want to see a gripping adventure based on a true story and revisit an interesting period in recent history, nothing more and nothing less.

Full Review | Nov 21, 2019

The film is a solid political thriller, with good edge-of-the-seat tension if you don't mind everything slightly over-cooked.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 30, 2019

The film's main strength lies in its convincing depiction of what it was like to live under the restrictive totalitarian state that was East Germany.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 25, 2019