Luther (2003)

Plugged In (Matt Kaufman) describes the film’s chief strength as its refusal to caricature: characters on both sides of the conflict are rendered with complexity and weight. Kaufman notes that much of the dialogue is drawn directly from the historical record, which gives scenes like the “Here I Stand” speech an unusual documentary credibility. He acknowledges the film’s ambition while noting that ambition occasionally outpaces its running time.

Christian Spotlight on the Movies called the gospel message in Luther “clear and dynamic,” particularly commending how vividly the film depicts the theological darkness of pre-Reformation Europe against which Luther’s discovery of grace by faith stands out.

Geeks Under Grace (Tyler Hummel) calls it one of his favorite films and credits it with capturing “the complicated nature of the real Martin Luther’s character”—his melancholy, his spiritual terror, his moral seriousness. Hummel is candid that the film functions more as myth-making than biography, pointing to several historical liberties, but argues the film succeeds as a portrayal of the cultural narrative that has grown up around Luther’s life.

Rotten Tomatoes: The film holds a 45% Tomatometer score based on 62 reviews and a 75% Popcornmeter as of April 2026.

Metacritic: Weighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on 23 critics, landing a “mixed or average” rating, and a 5.5 out of 10 user rating as of April 2026.

IMDb: User rating of 6.6 out of 10 as of April 2026.

Common Sense Media, giving a 2/5 star rating, described the film as more history lesson than drama while noting that the script tends toward episodic vignettes rather than a cohesive narrative arc.