Carrier (2008)
Carrier Project

Description

Carrier follows a core group of film participants aboard the USS Nimitz, from the admiral of the strike group to the fighter pilots to the youngest sailors, as they navigate personal conflicts around their jobs, families, faith, patriotism, love, the rites of passage and the war on terror.

Reviews

9.0 NJ.com | Alan Sepinwall

It seems like there's a new documentary about Iraq popping up on TV ever other week, but "Carrier" is something special. No matter your opinion on the war, or the military, or any of the other issues raised, it's a must-see.
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9.0 Amazon user reviews

I just finished watching "Carrier" on PBS and was extremely impressed by the honest, warts-and-all portrayal of life aboard a carrier. The producers did an outstanding job providing compelling human-interest storylines and showing the diversity of attitudes among the sailors, airmen, and Marines regarding their military service.
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8.8 New York Post | Adam Buckman

This series from Mel Gibson's Icon Productions might be the most candid look at everyday life on board a U.S. warship in wartime that has ever been filmed.
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8.0 Salon.com | Heather Havrilesky

With a careful mix of respect, curiosity and humor, the filmmakers offer a colorful and surprisingly nuanced tour of the day-to-day operations of the USS Nimitz during a six-month deployment in 2005, from California to Hong Kong, Guam, Bahrain and Perth, Australia.
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8.0 Boston Globe | Matthew Gilbert

I wanted to write an eye-rolling review about how PBS has gone into the recruitment business with this miniseries. But the longer you watch "Carrier," the deeper it goes.
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6.0 Los Angeles Times | Robert Lloyd

Although there is no politicking by the filmmakers or much political expression from the people in it, "Carrier" is not incidentally a paean to military hardware and the men and women who work it, live in it, and keep it organized and clean.
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4.0 Variety | Brian Lowry

The problem is that these carefully manicured portraits seldom escape war-movie cliches, and the glossy photography and song score are so manipulative the effect mostly has as much depth as a "Support the troops" bumper sticker.
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4.0 Washington Post | Tom Shales

Combine a dizzying mishmash of cinematic gimmicks with a conk-on-the-head rock score, then make the film 10 hours long, and there you have a good recipe for the viewing equivalent of seasickness.
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