A slow, dull and badly-made film
Gods and Generals
Ronald F. Maxwell
Robert Duvall, Jeff Daniels, Stephen Lang, Kevin Conway, C. Thomas Howell, Bruce Boxleiter, Mira Sorvino
12.
The Confederacy lives!
Though this over-long and more than somewhat tedious epic of the bloody American Civil War - or, if you are a true Johnny Reb, the War Between the States - does not do one of the most bitter conflicts in human history the justice it deserves. It is a slow, dull and badly-made film; how on earth could anybody make the build-up to and the conduct of the Battle of Gettysburg such an endless drag?
This is Maxwell's follow-up to the equally disappointing Gettysberg (l992) and somehow he manages to reduce this pivotal moment in American history to a snigger; all those big, bushy beards, titter the critics, not knowing that big, bushy beards were what men had in those far-off days.
The battle scenes are excellent, which is about all you could say in favour of a wasted opportunity to bring us a slice of soaring history. Rent out Glory instead!
2/5
