No chemistry whatsoever...

Rating: 4/10 (25 December 2003)

It is most sad that there has been such a slew of bad Civil War movies in theaters of late. That said, you have an idea of how the rest of this review shall go. Cold Mountain concentrates on one thing, how war tears families apart. This it does very well, again, and again, and again. In fact there are so many examples, one wonders how they had any time for plot. This proves to be true as Anthony Minghella spends most of his time showcasing how pitiful Kidman is, how mopey Jude Law is, and how whiny Zellweger is. All three of these characters have no chemistry with eachother, especially Law and Kidman. The entire movie subsists of them pining for eachother, yet they had little, if nothing together to begin with. Now one might say that there is a much deeper meaning in this relationship, which i do acknowledge. These poor fools are cast into a conflict which they do not wish to be a part of, and they are trying to hang on to whatever is fimiliar to them. This is where it all ends however, as Law marches on home like a mindless fool and Kidman begins to move on with her life. The story as a whole sounds like the screenplay was derived using a cookbook strategy, requiring shoot outs, explosions, and a fat naked woman to keep the interest of the audience. Minghella also threw in a sex scene towards the end of the movie in a manner which lead me to believe that he almost forgot he needed one, and threw it in. Historically, there were a few inacurracies as well. Through much of the movie, Jude Law carries with him a Le Mat pistol, an item which would cost the average soldier over a month's pay. Overall, I believe that Cold Mountain should remain what it once was, a book. Simular to Hemmingway's "A Farewell to Arms" the book is ripe with symbolism that High School English students would love to tear into, but as a movie the characters and events are as two dimensional as the screen on which they are projected. Please, if you are looking for a Civil War movie with profound depth and entertainment, save the nine bucks and rent Glory.