A Film Too Long

Rating: Null/10 (10 August 2003)

Too muddled and confusing as well. One of Montgomery's foolhardy grabs at glory that cost a lot of lives. After Normandy, the Allies attempt to catch the Germans by surprise by dropping behind enemy lines roughly 40,000 troops. But violating one of the first rules of warfare, they implemented the operation much too quickly and with insufficient forethought to the possible complications. Had DDay been so poorly planned, we'd all be wearing lederhosen und humming Wagner. Good ole Monty! Regarding the movie, it ironically imitates most of the miscues of the military operation that it depicts. The ideas are good, but the scope of the project was just way too large to coherently squeeze into a near 3 hour film and the disjointed multiple story lines end up zapping most of your interest in the outcome. But...I don't know if you will ever see a cast like this assembled again. Check out the names, wheeeeew! Yes, they are all outstanding and no, none of them are simply cheesy cameos like cheesy Ted Danson in Private Ryan. Special mention should be given to Hopkins performance.