Review Roundup: TINA, Tina Turner Documentary - What Did the Critics Think?

HBO's TINA, a feature documentary from Academy Award®-winning directors Dan Lindsay, T.J. Martin and Lightbox, is a revealing and intimate look at the life and career of musical icon Tina Turner, charting her improbable rise to early fame, her personal and professional struggles throughout her life and her even more improbable resurgence as a global phenomenon in the 1980s.

The documentary premieres on HBO and HBO Max on March 27.

Let's see what the critics are saying...

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Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun Times: Through a treasure trove of archival footage, interviews with former backup singers and songwriters and other associates of Tina's, as well as a series of interviews filmed with Turner (who is now 81) at her Shangri-La-esque chateau in Zurich, "Tina" is must-see for longtime fans and, perhaps more important, millennials who might not grasp just how much of an influence Tina Turner has been on generations of performers - regardless of gender.

Mick LaSalle, Datebook: [Tina] hits the familiar points of Turner's story - discovery by musician Ike Turner, the domestic abuse, the years in the wilderness followed by the massive comeback - but it does so in illuminating detail. Along the way, there's Turner herself, telling her story in both archival and recent interviews. Considering everything she's been through, she's remarkably even-keeled.

Noel Murray, AV Club: What makes Tina such a welcome addition to the Turner lore is that while Lindsay and Martin don't ignore the violence in her life-because that would be disingenuous-they also don't let it define her. The movie has two goals: to increase appreciation for one of the most powerful vocalists and most electrifying live performers of the 20th century, and to emphasize how unjust it is that so much of Turner's story has been dominated by her abuser.

Owen Gleiberman, Variety: I went into "Tina" feeling like I knew this story in my bones, but the film kept opening my eyes - to new insights, new tremors of empathy, and a new appreciation for what a towering artist Tina Turner is. One of the things that enhances a biography like this one is simply the passage of time, and if you saw Tina Turner live, or watched clips of her in the '70s, '80s, or '90s, you may have thought she was awesome (I'd wonder about you if you didn't), but she blazed trails in such an uncalculated way that you almost need a film like "Tina" to stand back and reveal, with perspective, what a gigantic influence she was.

Bruce Miller, Sioux City Journal: "Tina," a new documentary about the iconic singer, leaves us just as exhilarated as a three-hour arena appearance. It's filled with plenty of music but it's also packed with answers to questions about her abusive husband, Ike; her miraculous moves as a solo artist; and her life now, as a retired diva living in Switzerland. There's so much here you want to take notes just to remember it all.

Ed Masley, AZ Central: It's a heartbreaking journey with moments of real triumph, including Turner playing to a crowd of 186,000 in Rio and the audience clearly adoring her during a curtain call at the musical based on her life. But every triumph here is offset by the sense that there are scars that never fully healed.

Kevin Ritchie, Now Toronto: Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin's documentary not only recounts her career trajectory, but retells the story using instances of Turner telling her story as benchmarks. Turner first told it in 1981 to People Magazine, then in the 1986 memoir I, Tina, which inspired the 1993 movie What's Love Got To Do With It.

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