Stiff dramatically, but with great battlefield scenes.

Rating: 7/10 (29 April 2012)

Excellent, historically accurate to the last waistcoat button re- creations of the assault on Little Round Top and Pickett's Charge make up the middle and last third of the film respectively, and these are the highlights of this sprawling four hour epic by far.
An all-star cast is featured with Martin Sheen headlining as Robert E. Lee, but the real standouts are Jeff Daniels as Col. Chamberlain and Tom Berenger as Gen. James Longstreet as two ordinary seeming men thrust into an extraordinary situation and trying to provide leadership for frightened men headed likely to their deaths. Most of the character drama of the film however is stiff and ponderous with everybody pontificating at each other much of the time and aiming for doom-laden significance with every syllable. Director Ronald Maxwell never could direct actors very well, a deficiency that continued into this movie's later prequel 'Gods and Generals'.
The thing Maxwell does best is staging period battle recreations; the location cinematography is excellent and this pulls the viewer back into the moment very quickly any time the action starts up, however much the stagy theatrics might have earlier distracted.