The second best civil war film ever made

Rating: Null/10 (29 December 2003)

Yes, I said SECOND best. In my humble opinion, "Glory" will always be THE BEST civil war film ever, and one of the best films period.
But I digress.
Yes, it is over four hours long. Yes, they could have cut out about 45 minutes worth of material without losing much. And yes, the character development is somewhat light. But it is still a spectacular epic.
The movie producers apparently found every civil war re-enactor in the country to serve as extras. All the details are authentic down to the uniform buttons. And the battle scenes are an awesome sight, especially the final battle. And, if you look closely, you can see a cameo appearance by Ted Turner himself--being shot. I'm not sure, but I could swear I hear the faint cheering of thousands of Turner network employees every time that scene appears!
Having read the book it was based on, it was much easier to follow the plot. I would suggest that anyone who wants to see this movie read the book either before or after--Don't worry, it's not a very long book.
An aside: This movie was apparently pulled off store shelves a while back. I discovered this fact to my great dismay as I tried to buy it as a Christmas present. Worthless crap like "The Master of Disguise" and "From Justin to Kelly" sits un-purchased on the shelves of video stores, and yet this quality movie languishes in the Warner Brothers vault. I understand the movie is to be re-released in February of 2004, so it's good to know there are still some people in Hollywood with an ounce of good taste.