A little too long...

Rating: Null/10 (22 February 2008)

...but not a bad epic. Nowhere near as good as Glory,but what was? The strength of this movie was the use of the actual battlefield and neighboring areas,rather than use a Hollywood back lot or some such. Another strength was the accuracy in casting actors who look like the characters they were portraying, even under a beard, and not the "close enough" approach some historical films take. There was also a lot of great acting here-Martin Sheen as Robert E.Lee was superb,and Kevin Conway as Kilraen stole most of his scenes(even his lifting of "colonel,darling" from Victor McLaughlin was spot-on.) Sam Elliott makes the most of his limited screen time as Buford and Richard Jordan as General Armistead is a picture of professionalism,doing his job while he knew he was dying. The worst acting had to go to Stephen Lang as Pickett-his pompous,sissified portrayal,tho not too far off the real Pickett,had me laughing. Kudos to all the volunteer reenactors,who labored,without pay or credit,who came at their own expense to be in this movie. I'd give this a 7.5/10