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Gods and Generals [Blu-ray]

Gods and Generals [Blu-ray] Information

Product Reviews Post Time
Jan 26, 2010 14:25:08

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3.5 of 5.0

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Gods and Generals [Blu-ray] Reviews By Customers
Extremely detailed, and very historically accurate. Ted Turner spent top dollar to make “Gods and Generals” as real as possible, and he did an excellent job. If you want to know what life was like during the 1860′s, this is the film to see. Even little details the average viewer may not even notice is included in the movie.

My ONLY complaints is that we did not get to see things from the Union point of view enough in my personal and humble opinion. i.e. How Northern Civilians reacted to the war, the men in blue preparing for it, etc. And not all southern’s wanted to secede from the country. Quite a few did not actually, and I wish the story could have focused on that issue some.

The film does focus on Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the Twentieth Maine for the most part when showing the audience the viewpoint of the Federal troops.

I think one of the reasons why many rebels believed it would be a short war is because they knew quite a lot of them were mountain and woodsmen. Real tough and rough guys who thought Unionists were stuck up, rich boys who wouldn’t stand a chance against them, not at all realizing that many, many men up North were also gentlemen of nature too that hunted, had farms, and lived off the land. I believe that is the case with all the men in the Twentieth Maine.

Since I first saw the film “Gettysburg” when I was a kid, I have been fascinated with Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. I also became a huge Jeff Daniels fan as a result of his performance as Chamberlain, and I was happy to see him reunite with C. Thomas Howell and Kevin Conway in “Gods and Generals”. I really loved that trio in “Gettysburg”, and it was great seeing them together again.

I am very satisfied with the screen time the Twentieth Maine received in both films, but I think it’s human nature for people to want more, and it would have been nice to see more screen time for the Twentieth Maine. But I still have books. I’ve already planned to read Gods and Generals, The Killer Angels, The Last Full Measure, as well as The Twentieth Maine by John J. Pullen. So I’m sure I’ll learn quite a bit more about Chamberlain and his men.

I know many of the U.S. troops at that time cared more about preserving the Union, which is fine and honorable, but I’m also glad Chamberlain was of the men who not only wanted to keep the country together, but also had a deep desire to end slavery.

I’m sure this film attracted many people who are sympathetic towards the Confederacy, but hopefully those people were open-minded enough to learn more about the Union side of things when Jeff Daniels was on screen, and had a better understanding of why some Union soldiers were fighting in the war. Check Special Price!

The DVD Was Fine With Me – Travis W. Mckee – Oklahoma
Divers of other reviews lament the double-sided DVD, but I’m a veteran of handling these enough that it isn’t a gripe with me at all.

However, it is a minor gripe that the conclusion of one side pulls you out of the movie. With the Gods & Generals release, you’re pulled out during the charge of the Irish Brigade, and the movie is cut kind of funny, so you aren’t inserted right back when you flip to side B. This is a shame, because this is walking into the part of the movie where Joshua Chamberlain’s role really shines.

Mary Fahl’s ‘Going Home’ theme at the beginning should win over viewers right away. From there, through the fine instrumental scoring throughout, and even to Bob Dylan’s melancholy whaling at the credits, this is a greatly scored film, scoring that could hold it’s own with anything.

The central character is General Jackson. At times, it will seem more like a Jackson biopic than a movie where the Civil War is the subject. This make Stephen Lang unquestionably the star of the film. Contemporary audiences will definitely flinch at times at what may seem an absurdly melodramatic portrayal, but I can’t honestly say there’s any other way one could really inhabit the role of General Jackson. I certainly don’t question his casting.

And I also don’t question the casting of Robert Duvall as General Lee. He may be the only living actor with the gravitas for it, and he marked a vast improvement over Martin Sheen. Now, Sheen was fine in that TV series as President Bartlet, but there’s the gravitas for playing presidents, and then there’s a level for Robert E Lee. Duvall had the quality to inhabit the role. It was perhaps the strongest supporting role ever, with the possible exception of Gerald McRaney as Patton in the much overlooked ‘Ike’.

I have a lot of enthusiasm for what I saw in this picture, but will admit going in not looking for a movie. I went in with the eye of an editor, and must agree with all the other reviews concerning pacing and whatnot. The craftsmanship is perfect, but this is a miniseries shoehorned into a movie. You’ll love it if you make those allowances, and you too will find yourself daydreaming of cutting this into the perfect miniseries.
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Opportunity lost – George T. Goebel – Baltimore, MD USA
The best thing about this film is the song during the opening credits sung by the great Mary Fahl. After that it’s a fast downhill slide. I’m amazed at the amount of four and five stars that reviewers here have awarded this mess of a movie and can only guest that they are coming from that strange breed of person known as the “Civil War Re-enactor”. Bad acting, bad beards(like it’s sequel Gettysburg), bad computer generated images and above all fake battles using overweight civil war re-enactors. Director Ron Maxwell directs this film like he was back in the 1950′s with 50′s sensibilities. Any war movie, this one in particular, that ignores the groundbreaking vision that Steven Speilberg gave us in 1998 with his magnificent “Saving Private Ryan” deserves the failure this film had at the box office. What an opportunity Maxwell had. First of all he ignored two of the most fundamental rules of the post “Ryan” battle scene, no soundtrack music during a battle unless it is provided by the fife and drum corps existing in the scene and plenty of handheld camera work. Maxwell uses romantic battle hymns during the big battles and there are plenty of smooth slick tracking and crane shots during his essentially bloodless events. Nowhere do we see the visions of hell that I have read about by survivors of these hideous conflicts where modern industrial weaponry met napoleonic battle tactics.
Some fine actors were wasted in this film most notably Jeff Daniels and Robert Duvall as an incredibly pale Robert E. Lee. These men were sunburnt and weathered, they spent all of their time outdoors on horses. Steven Lang plays a romantic version of “Stonewall” Jackson, a departure from the tactical killing machine who was Lee’s right arm. Oh I could go on and on. A really great film about our nations most horrendous folly has still never been made. Until that happens I would suggest instead of “Gods and Generals” either Ken Burn’s monumental series “The Civil War” or the small independent film “Pharoahs Army” with Patricia Clarkson and the great Chris Cooper.
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Great Civil War movie – James D. Wohlhueter –
Great Civil War movie. Some things are wrong, very few. But a great movie. A movie you can learn from. A teaching movie.
Highly recommend!!!!!!
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Add comment January 26th, 2010