Too much on so little time

Rating: 1/10 (11 November 2000)

Give the production crew a ton of credit for trying to cram as much of the epic battle as possible in a time frame as small as the budget will give.

Gettysburg had way too much story. The battle focuses on every character. Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing. I've studied the battle itself and every commander made a difference. Was it necessary though to add a speech for every character? It seemed to me the diector wanted each hero to be glorified, and there were alot to begin with. The movie doesn't focus on the Union, nor the Confederates, it does to both. Having both, the movie breaks down and focuses on each and every general to the lieutnenants. Why so much? If the movie focused on a group of characters, a piece of the battle, it would have scored higher for me. There was just too much, too much talk, and too much of the battle altogether that nearly made me fall asleep.

Gettysburg isn't a great documentary. If it were broken down to a made for television series, then it would have been enjoyable. Otherwise, I found it too long and it didn't keep my interest for too long.