The Palace received strong critical and audience acclaim. At the 2011 Melbourne International Film Festival
Morgan Spurlock, American director of the acclaimed 2004 documentary film
Super Size Me, called
The Palace "One of the best short films I've ever seen..." Peter Krausz, chair of the
Australian Film Critics Association, wrote "This is pure film-making to the highest degree..." Blake Howard from
The Co-Op Post called the film "one of the most emotionally affective and powerful short films that I’ve ever seen". Lukey Folkard at
Australian Film Review praised the film as "one of the most impressive and ambitious Australian shorts I've seen at the Sydney Film Festival so far. Or ever."
Box Office magazine's Pete Hammond called the film riveting, suspenseful first class filmmaking".
Cine Outsider's Timothy E. Raw wrote "Director Maras' choke-hold on the audience only tightens, suspense building not to a point of release, but asphyxiating hysteria ... sixteen minutes of non-stop action that rivals the highest Hollywood standards and on more than one occasion surpasses them with blitzkrieg duck n' cover staging".
Filmoria's Richard Lennox wrote "What’s so special about The Palace is its ability to show both sides of the horror of war and at an essence the spirit of humanity against the atrocities of war ... an outstanding film which echoes a quality set by war films such as
The Hurt Locker in style. Thought provoking, tense and thoroughly recommended". ==Awards and nominations==