A patchy and spotty epic.

Rating: Null/10 (26 February 2004)

'Cold Mountain' suffers from a lack of coherent structure. There is confederate soldier Inman (Jude Law), his true love Ada (Nicole Kidman) and Ada's helper and friend Ruby (Renee Zellweger). The three of them suffer the daily routine of waiting for the American civil war to end so Inman can be united with Ada.
'Cold Mountain' has patchy moments of conflict and unpleasantness and lacks the foundation of tying it all together until the final few minutes. It's sort of like looking at a jigsaw puzzle that has its bottom third completed but the top of the puzzle is still in many pieces. It is a war film that IS quite unique. One major battle scene among the soldiers but several scenes of clandestine crime in the bushes by hillbilly thugs, soldiers who are deserters and people just looking for a way to survive.
Director Anthony Minghella hasn't been able to re-capture the artistry of 'The English Patient' and perhaps his art gallery style of directing could take a back seat for a while and maybe he could try and show us some diversity...if he has any.