Critic Reviews

• Trevor Johnston, Time Out

  Bana exudes downhome blokeyness throughout, but an hour of this will be enough for most, after which egomania fatigue sets in. Add another star if you're a petrolhead, two if you really like Eric Bana and cars, three if you're his mum.

• Megan Lehmann, Hollywood Reporter

  Bana's easygoing manner and a lingering sense of nostalgia build a mellow mood overall, while shrewd editing by Conor O'Neill and a rocking Aussie soundtrack pump up the volume on the race sequences.

• Richard Kuipers, Variety

  Bana packs plenty of visual grunt for revhead auds, but his misty-eyed narration and awkwardly staged probing of man-car love with an Oz TV psychologist veer close to vanity-project potholes.

• Allan Hunter, Daily Express

  Unless you share Bana's worship of screeching tyres and throbbing engines then this is probably something you only really need to see on the small screen.

• , Empire Magazine

  An indulgent but moving account of a decades-long love affair with his first car.

• Kevin Maher, Times [UK]

  An innocuous if not entirely successful attempt to convince "non-car people" about the joys of loving a 1974 Ford Falcon XB coupe.

• Catherine Shoard, Guardian [UK]

  Bana may not be a star exactly swaddled in charisma, but what mystique he did have is disassembled as comprehensively as that coupe's innards.

• Jamie Russell, Total Film

  Slight but unexpectedly sweet.

• John Ferguson, Radio Times

  Although it helps to be a car nut to watch this, Bana's unpretentious passion is infectious.

• Derek Malcolm, This is London

  You would have to love Eric Bana and his souped-up old racer to appreciate this car-themed documentary.

• Anthony Quinn, Independent

  This self-directed vanity project shows the actor as a decent bloke who keeps in touch with his old mates from home, but that goodwill is squandered by earnest interviews with fellow petrolheads.

• Matthew Turner, ViewLondon

  Petrolheads can probably go ahead and add an extra star but otherwise Love the Beast is a likeable and occasionally moving documentary, even if it's not quite the success it could have been.

• Anton Bitel, Eye for Film

  'non-car people' will find themselves forced into the position of disengaged anthropologist, observing all the vehicular bump and grind without gaining any real insight or emotional connection from the experience.

• Anders Wotzke, Moviedex

  Love the Beast is a solid film about car lovers, for car lovers. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them.

• Nick Schager, Slant Magazine

  Through narration, interviews, and cinematographic fawning over their chassis, classic American cars are celebrated for their imperfect character, which makes them seem vibrantly alive.

• Simon Weaving, Screenwize

  Although it's the shiny red 1974 Ford Falcon coupe that occupies the screen time, it's Eric Bana who engages in this very personal look at the boy from suburban Melbourne, Australia who might have been a racing car driver.

• Erin Free, FILMINK (Australia)

  Digs enthusiastically into the rarely seriously discussed issue of the bond that can exist between man and machine.

• Julie Rigg, MovieTime, ABC Radio National

  Slight but engaging.

Read all 18 critic reviews