Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't anyone ever read anymore??
Review: I can't believe I had to read through TWENTY reviews before I found someone who knows, as I do, that the book is ALWAYS better than the movie! That being said, I thought the movie was a pretty good adaptation, but will agree that the acting was a tad overdone and some of the scenes were too drawn out. There is just too much in the book to cover in the movie--remember that "The Killer Angels" was about just one battle. G&G was too much about Jackson and not enough about the horrors of the Civil War, which all three books (including "The Last Full Measure") seem to deal with at least as much as character development. Maybe the producers thought that we've been reminded too much of how terrible war is, so they treated that subject as an afterthought. And, I'm sorry, but I thought Duvall did an awful job as R.E. Lee...even though I don't like ol' Marty Sheen's political views, I thought he did much better. Do yourself a favor and read the book, then rent this one on DVD.
Rating: 
Summary: My favorite Civil War film
Review: The Gods and Generals DVD is fantastic! The anamorphic widescreen looks great. Though everything on the disc is exceptional, my favorite was the commentary though I wish it had covered the whole movie. It covers selected scenes. It was interesting to learn how powerful Mr. Blair was in the 19th century as Prof. Robertson mentioned on the commentary track (I think he likened him to a prime minister type of figure). I had never heard of him in my American History classes and only read of him briefly in a couple of books. My Civil War studies have been even more enjoyable than usual these last few months with the release of Gods and Generals in theatres, getting the book "Gods and Generals: The Illustrated Story of the Epic Civil War Film", as well as the book "Faith in God and Generals", and the DVD. For those of you who are wondering why the battle of Antietam was not in the film, it was shot and will be on the extended version of Gods and Generals which is supposed to be on DVD in the future. I'm not making this up or passing along hearsay. There is a note about it in the book, "Gods and Generals: The Illustrated Story of the Epic Civil War Film" that I mentioned above. I highly recommend this book. This has the entire screenplay so you can read the Antietam scene as well as the other scenes that were not in the theatrical release. There are also a few photos of shots from the Antietam scene. In addition, the book has about 140 pages of information on the making of the film. You can also get the soundtrack which has a bonus DVD with a couple of scenes that were not in the theatrical release.
Rating: 
Summary: The film is just plain "sappy". And everyone overacts.
Review: I was 99 minutes into this epic Civil War film when I made a decision. I wasn't going to force myself to watch the next 120 minutes. Yes, the film is that long, a full 229 minutes. And yes, it's supposed to be authentic. After all, Ted Turner was the executive producer of this adaptation from the Jeff Shaara novel. They even hired authentic "re-enactors" for the battle scenes. The history is well researched. And the cast consists of several well-known actors such as Robert Duvall, Jeff Daniels and Stephen Lang. But the film is just plain "sappy". And everyone overacts. Between the battle scenes there are long, boring speeches quoted verbatim from either the bible or classical literature. There isn't a character who doesn't seem a stereotype. And there are so many tearful partings from families, orations about honor and duty to the cause and overdone sentimentality that I soon lost track or who was who. Nor did I care. It's a bit mind boggling to think of all of the time, effort, talent and money that went into this production just to create this absolute bomb. Clearly, this is one of the worst films I've ever seen. I can't say one nice thing about it.
Rating: 
Summary: STICK TO THE HISTORY-THERE'S PLENTY THERE
Review: As with Gettysburg (the movie) I can't understand why anyone needs to novel-ize history that has been so well documented AS history. The Civil War, an event that sits squarely and appropriately at our nation's history, has been so well documented in photographs, journals, letters and reminiscences that a project like this one--even as ambitious as it is--falls short when compared to the history. In fact I feel that such a movie (and the book) are irreverent when compared to the actual lives that are out there to discover and rediscover in the history. Buy and watch Ken Burns' Civil War documentary. Excellently written, narrated and scored, and illustrated with period photographs--especially those of Matthew Brady--the Burns documentary continues to be the standard against which all others continue to be measured--and they all fall short.
Rating:
Summary: I laughed. Then I cried. Then I turned it off.
Review: I couldn't take it any more. I lasted about an hour and decided to stop the DVD and read a book instead. The dialog made me laugh. It seemed that every casual conversation was meant to be some grandiloquent speech about the nobleness of the cause. I can picture a scene with two Johnny Rebs taking a pee side by side while at the same time praising the genius and bravery of their heroic general Stonewall Jackson in Shakespearean-like prose (Reb 1, urinating: "The sons of Virginia smote the evil Northern enemy today Obadiah!" Reb 2, urinating: "Indeed we did my confederate brother. General Jackson looked as an avenging angel on his mighty steed." Gen. Jackson, riding up on horse: "Noble soldiers, put away your swords and return to the line!"). I guess every significant "quote" from the era had to somehow be worked into this movie. The sappy background music, which permeated throughout, didn't help. It was a noble effort, and I'm sure it's historically accurate so I guess it has educational value. I gave it a second star for that as well as the fairly decent cinematography and the seemingly painstaking steps they took to reflect the Southern motivations for the war (and all along, I thought it was about slavery). Also, I suppose the efforts taken in assembling the epic battle scene at Manassas deserve merit. But after seeing such seemingly realistic (I don't know, I wasn't there) war movies such as "Private Ryan" and "The Patriot", the PG-rated battles in this movie seemed comically staged and sanitized. It looked exactly like what it actually was: a bunch of grown men playing soldier (Falling soldier: "Oh! you got me!"). After rolling my eyes at the first battle scene, the dialog started again. Instead of laughing, I felt like crying for the fine actors who had so little to work with. Then I turned it off. The second star was also merited, I guess, by the decision to represent the war from the Southern point of view. In my mind, that was a welcome change from the prevailing liberal, politically-correct attitude coming out of Hollywood. I'm sure it's a worthy story. I'm thinking about reading the book, which no doubt this movie failed to do justice to.
Rating:
Summary: way too drawn out
Review: i love Civil War history and i LOVED Gettysburg, but this seemed too rambling to get my attention...I am not one to skip over scenes, but I did on this one....just to get to something interesting...and i hope they make the third one
Rating:
Summary: Undeniably the best movie of our time
Review: I know some critics will argue with me about my rating. Some may argue about what I have to say too, but this movie was better than the movie, Gettysburg. It portrays Stonewall so very well...the brilliant strategist that he was and the deep abiding faith he held for his Christian beliefs. And so, yankees and atheists will not care for this movie; however, I as a Christian southerner, born and raised in the Bible belt of the south absolutely love it and cannot wait for the sequel. If you want to see a movie that is politically correct, this movie is not for you. If you want to see a movie that is historically factual, you will love this movie as much as I do. If I could give it more than five stars, I would. God bless Ron Maxwell. I believe this is a movie that belongs in everyone's collection.
--Kay Davenport Barr
Rating:
Summary: Great History focusing on Stonewall Jackson
Review: First movie that portrays and focuses on Stonewall Jackson so well. Long running time, but worth it! I definite must if you love American History. VMI grads...Great credit to your Brother Rats of the past.
Rating:
Summary: Gods and Generals (DVD)
Review: This is one of the best Civil War movies made. This movie was very historically correct on story, dress, tactics, and way of talking. This movie fell so real you will not want to leave.
This will help those who do not know much about the Civil War a better picture of what it was like. This was very good and I was very pleased with it.
Rating:
Summary: Can someone read a history book?
Review: I was very excited to watch this film, being a sucker for large scale historic epics. I enjoyed the other film in this series, Gettysburg, and was excited to see this equally large production. However, when I finally saw this film, I was appalled, insulted and annoyed. It deals with the beginnings of the Civil War, starting immediately after the attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861. From this point, it starts to become a confusing, inaccurate mess. We are throughout the film bombarded with random regiments and brigades, that you are unclear who is who, or why they are important. We spend a good 20 minutes watching 2 Irish regiments, who we have never seen before, fight each other, but seem to be happy about killing Irishmen, or upset - dunno which. Worst of all, the film deals only briefly with the Slavery issue in the motivation for Civil War. In fact, only 2 minor characters are black; both are Southern, and neither seems too bothered by the fact that they are slaves. Strangely, they both seem to be rooting for the South to win. Huh, that's seems odd to me, having graduated 2nd grade with a basic understanding regarding the causes of a nation to fight against one another. The movie is long, over long, the dialogue boarding on absurd. Its saving grace is the impressive battle scenes, realistic costumes, and the attention to detail in regards to quirky 19th century facial hair. Overall, avoidable.
| 
