Even as a movie, its bad

Rating: 1/10 (2 January 2007)

I watched this movie out of curiosity and through Netflix, just so I would spend as little money on it as possible. Although I completely detest the subject matter, it did so-so at the box office and with the talent involved (Howard/Hanks) I decided to watch it anyway, viewing it strictly as a movie to see how Howard/Hanks handled the material.
Simply put, this movie does not work. It plays more like a school play, with deadpan acting and so much information being flayed at you that there's no time do develop the characters. The only emotion in the film comes in the very last scenes, when Hanks actually put some meaning in his words.
Also blaring were huge plot holes that distract the viewer from what's going on. As these have been so belabored in other reviews, I shan't enumerate them here - suffice to say that it would appear to me that this was not a labor of love, as are so many of Howard's movies, but more of a cash vehicle off the source material. It does not have the polish and fineness that Howard puts on his other work, and Hanks' phoned-in performance is a pure waste of talent.
If Howard had been given the time and incentive to do more with the material, we actually could have had something special here. As it is, look for it in the Wal-Mart discount bin very soon.