I am a Civil War nut. I just returned from Chester, Virginia, from which I explored the battlefields featured in this film.
This movie portrays the historical figures involved as one-dimensional, robotic "Hall of Presidents" androids spouting one lame overwritten line after another. As if every conversation between every soldier or general was about Honor or The Cause. Nowhere in this film is the drudgery, misery, or even simple REALITY of living during the Civil War. The battle scenes are like the work of Sir Walter Scott: all banners and hurrahs, no suddenly decapitated corpses walking two more steps, like real life. And could the writers have made Jackson any more insufferable? I assure you: he was not such a self-important windbag in real life. And is it just me, or does Duvall play Lee as if he were a tad gay? So as much as I'd love to see a GOOD, historically accurate movie about the Civil War made, this isn't it. "Glory" is much better from the point of view of character complexity and believability and even HISTORICITY. Even "The Outlaw Josey Wales" makes the effects of war upon humans more apparent than this sadly bloated zombie of a movie.
This had a lot of potential, but very little follow through. C-.
Fun things to watch for: endless and awkward musical numbers; Jackson's death bed scene lasts at least as long as his actual dying, the blaring sound track.
This movie portrays the historical figures involved as one-dimensional, robotic "Hall of Presidents" androids spouting one lame overwritten line after another. As if every conversation between every soldier or general was about Honor or The Cause. Nowhere in this film is the drudgery, misery, or even simple REALITY of living during the Civil War. The battle scenes are like the work of Sir Walter Scott: all banners and hurrahs, no suddenly decapitated corpses walking two more steps, like real life. And could the writers have made Jackson any more insufferable? I assure you: he was not such a self-important windbag in real life. And is it just me, or does Duvall play Lee as if he were a tad gay? So as much as I'd love to see a GOOD, historically accurate movie about the Civil War made, this isn't it. "Glory" is much better from the point of view of character complexity and believability and even HISTORICITY. Even "The Outlaw Josey Wales" makes the effects of war upon humans more apparent than this sadly bloated zombie of a movie.
This had a lot of potential, but very little follow through. C-.
Fun things to watch for: endless and awkward musical numbers; Jackson's death bed scene lasts at least as long as his actual dying, the blaring sound track.