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Movies / On DVD / Gods and Generals
Gods and Generals

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Gods and Generals (2003)

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Reviews Counted:119

Fresh:9

Rotten:110

Average Rating:3.5/10

Consensus: Filled with two-dimensional characters and pompous self-righteousness, Gods and Generals is a long, tedious sit. Some may also take offense at the pro-Confederate slant.

Runtime: 3 hrs 39 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: This epic film from writer-director Ron Maxwell chronicles the early events of the American Civil War. It's a prequel to his earlier GETTYSBURG, with some of the same cast, and is part of a planned... This epic film from writer-director Ron Maxwell chronicles the early events of the American Civil War. It's a prequel to his earlier GETTYSBURG, with some of the same cast, and is part of a planned trilogy. Stephen Lang plays Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, the famous (and deeply religious) Confederate general who, along with fellow General Robert E. Lee (Robert Duvall), must weigh the mighty consequences of his actions, as each battle costs the lives of thousands of men. Over on the Union side there's Jeff Daniels as Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, who, like Jackson and Lee, is fond of making long, poetic speeches to his troops. Beginning with the start of the war and ending with Jackson's death, the film chronicles the three main battles leading up to Gettysburg, using their actual locations and thousands of actual Civil War re-enactors as extras. Maxwell pays careful attention to authentic period detail as he chronicles the minutiae of the generals' domestic lives in the intervals between the harrowing battle scenes. While a little on the long side, the end result should serve as an invaluable document for history buffs. Mogul Ted Turner was an executive producer and appears in a small role. [More]

Starring: Jeff Daniels, Stephen Lang, Robert Duvall, Mira Sorvino

Starring: Jeff Daniels, Stephen Lang, Robert Duvall, Mira Sorvino, Kevin Conway, C. Thomas Howell, Frankie Faison

Director: Ronald F. Maxwell

Director: Ronald F. Maxwell
Screenwriter: Ronald F. Maxwell
Producer: Ronald F. Maxwell
Composer: John Frizzell, Randy Edelman
Studio: Warner Bros.

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Reviews for Gods and Generals

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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The big battles impress, but become somewhat samey. Part Three is threatened.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
12/30/06
Kim Newman
Kim Newman
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The procession of monotonous, oddly gore-free battles breaks frequently for bloated speechifying.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Incredibly boring and badly acted.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
07/08/03
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Swapping politics for crass platitudes, Gods and Generals is a monumental folly.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
06/24/03
Jamie Russell
Jamie Russell
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

An interesting film weakened by ham-fisted writing and direction and heavy-handed revisionism.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment 1 Comment
06/19/03
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

Everybody is so good and decent that it’s hard to tell where the generals leave off and the gods start.

Full Review Source: Decent Films Guide | comment Comment
10/29/08
Steven D. Greydanus
Steven D. Greydanus
Decent Films Guide

A labour of love with special interest to history buffs, this epic film is extraordinary in many ways.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
10/18/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile

Maxwell continues his textbook emphasis on military maneuvers, but despite literally thousands of Civil War reenactors recruited for the film, the wide-screen canvas fails to map the tactics or evoke the terror of battle.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
02/27/07
Bill Stamets
Bill Stamets
Chicago Reader

Then there is 'Gods and Generals,' cut from the same production cloth as 'Gettysburg' but a film of very loose ends.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Kansan | comment Comment
10/15/04
Steve Crum
Steve Crum
Kansas City Kansan

You will watch a series of battle re-enactments and wait for a film to break out.

Full Review Source: Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada) | comment Comment
12/01/03
Brian Gibson
Brian Gibson
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)

Every shot is fired in sorrow, and there are no villains - except, of course, for the politicians, who remain safely out of the frame.

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
10/17/03
Sandra Hall
Sandra Hall
Sydney Morning Herald

Thinks it is grand without ever being so.

Full Review Source: Mark Reviews Movies | comment Comment
08/10/03
Mark Dujsik
Mark Dujsik
Mark Reviews Movies

Imagine watching half of Band of Brothers in one sitting, but with the story moving at a much slower pace.

Full Review Source: RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland) | comment Comment
07/25/03
Harry Guerin
Harry Guerin
RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)

War may be Hell, but in this three-and-a-half-hour Civil War epic from Ronald Maxwell, the syrupy monologues and righteous Bible thumping provide the punishment.

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
07/02/03
Tom Meek
Tom Meek
Boston Phoenix

Maxwell has made the, shall we say interesting, decision to change [Stonewall Jackson]God’s hellcat into a warm and fuzzy teddy bear.

Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews | comment 1 Comment
04/05/03
Andrea Chase
Andrea Chase
Killer Movie Reviews

A stiff and stilted historical pageant that somehow manages to make the savage tumult of thousands pitched against thousands seem not so much dreadul as dreadfully dull.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment Comment
03/25/03
Joe Leydon
Joe Leydon
San Francisco Examiner

Full of windy speeches about honor, god, fealty, and so on, the movie comes to a literal standstill whenever one of these noble addresses is about to be delivered.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment 2 Comments
03/10/03
Marjorie Baumgarten
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle

Stay far away from the three hour-plus Gods and Generals--unless, of course, you need a good nap.

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
03/07/03
Kit Bowen
Kit Bowen
Hollywood.com

If D.W. Griffith's 1915 Civil War stunner, 'The Birth of a Nation,' was 'history writ with lightning,' in the famous phrase of President Woodrow Wilson, than Ted Turner's 'Gods and Generals' is history writ with sorghum...

Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | comment Comment
03/06/03
John Beifuss
John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

A repulsive combination of dry textbook history and pandering melodrama.

Full Review Source: The Badger Herald | comment Comment
03/05/03
Mac Verstandig
Mac Verstandig
The Badger Herald
 
 
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