Says Hollywood Reporter:
Clint Eastwood’s “Flags of Our Fathers” does a most difficult and brave thing and does it brilliantly. It is a movie about a concept. Not just any concept but the shop-worn and often wrong-headed idea of “heroism.”
Says Variety:
Ambitiously tackling his biggest canvas to date, Clint Eastwood continues to defy and triumph over the customary expectations for a film career in “Flags of Our Fathers.” A pointed exploration of heroism — in its actual and in its trumped-up, officially useful forms — the picture welds a powerful account of the battle of Iwo Jima, the bloodiest single engagement the United States fought in World War II, with an ironic and ultimately sad look at its aftermath for three key survivors. This domestic Paramount release looks to parlay critical acclaim and its director’s ever-increasing eminence into strong B.O. returns through the autumn and probably beyond.