The Netflix Film That Critics Couldn’t Agree On Is Finally Here, and Its Rotten Tomatoes Score Says Everything

Few films arrive on a streaming platform carrying as much peculiar baggage as ‘In the Hand of Dante.’ Julian Schnabel’s ambitious epic weaves between two parallel timelines, following 14th-century poet Dante Alighieri as he agonizes over the creation of his masterpiece, and a 21st-century author named Nick Tosches who is tasked by a mafia don to steal a handwritten manuscript believed to be Dante’s original ‘Divine Comedy.’ The film is based on a 2002 novel by Nick Tosches, adapted for the screen by Schnabel alongside co-writer Louise Kugelberg.

Oscar Isaac leads an ensemble that includes Gal Gadot, Gerard Butler, John Malkovich, Al Pacino, Jason Momoa, and even Martin Scorsese, who steps in front of the camera in a supporting role. Isaac takes on the dual roles of both Tosches and Dante himself, making this perhaps the most ambitious project of his already distinguished career. Schnabel splits the film’s dual timelines visually, with the modern-day crime caper unfolding in widescreen black-and-white, while the 14th-century sequences burst into vibrant color courtesy of cinematographer Roman Vasyanov.

Critics who caught the film at its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival were not kind. Pete Hammond for Deadline described the screenplay as “unpredictable, if uneven” and said the film “bites off possibly more than it can chew,” while Matthew Joseph Jenner called it “bloated,” “insincere,” and “not even interesting enough for us to appreciate its audacity.” Comparisons to another notoriously divisive recent epic were quick to surface, with critics likening ‘In the Hand of Dante’ to Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Megalopolis,’ pointing to a film that feels like it sprang from the “pretentious id of its creator,” one that is “alternately riveting and dull as dirt.”

That lukewarm-to-hostile critical reception has now crystallized into a Rotten Tomatoes score that will raise eyebrows among the film’s star-studded marketing campaign. As of its Netflix debut on June 24, the film sits at a generally negative score on Rotten Tomatoes, a sharp contrast to Schnabel’s previous work, the critically lauded 2018 biopic ‘At Eternity’s Gate,’ which earned Willem Dafoe multiple Best Actor nominations, including a win at the Satellite Awards.

Schnabel himself has pushed back against the critical pile-on with characteristic defiance. Speaking to IndieWire, the director said the Tribeca Film Festival reception was “fantastic,” adding, “When you make something that might not be like everything else, some people don’t know what to do with it,” and expressing confidence that the film is “something that’s going to be here for a long time.” He also singled out his lead for special praise, telling IndieWire he believes Isaac “gives the performance of his life in this film.”

Despite its flaws, those who have warmed to the film tend to point to Isaac as a compelling screen presence and Gerard Butler as surprisingly engaging in the film’s showiest role, with critics noting that every scene Butler vacates in the second half feels noticeably muted by comparison. With the film only just arriving on Netflix, it remains to be seen whether audiences will find more to love than critics did, though the concern remains that a poor critical reception often signals a rough ride with general viewers too.

Whether ‘In the Hand of Dante’ ultimately finds its audience or joins the ranks of expensive, bewildering misfires is a question only time will answer. Do you think this is the kind of divisive, ambitious swing that deserves a second look from audiences, or does a Rotten Tomatoes score like this one tell you everything you need to know before hitting play?