Still Worth Seeing

Rating: 8/10 (19 August 2005)

Gettysburg comes off definitely as someone's labor of love  its length, its detail, the screenplay all display a meticulousness that can only come from someone truly enamored of the subject. Of course, labors of love sometimes don't make for good films, or outstanding drama. They can come off as tiresome, self important, and full of didactic monotony.
Now, that being said, Gettysburg at times can be all of the above  after all, in a 4+ hr film you'd have to be guilty somewhere of those sins. However  and I want to really stress 'however' - this film is well worth viewing. The battle strategies alone are enough (not even to mention Jeff Daniels' Oscar worthy portrayal as Col Joshua Chamberlain) if you care at all about history, the Civil War, or the major events that this country has gone through.
The music is excellent, although a bit repetitive, the cast believable (with the possible exception of Martin Sheen, who seems overly detached as Lee), and the historical accuracy of the events depicted all make this a film that can be defended and/or admired. Although the dialog is stilted and flowery, and is mentioned in much of the criticism, the author of the book it is adapted from  The Killer Angels  explains exactly why this might not be entirely fair criticism.
In summary, see the film if you like or even care about history. The faults of the movie will be overlooked.