Glory 2, More lack of intensity

Rating: Null/10 (14 March 2004)

I felt this was a good movie, but the dramatic events it revolves around should have propelled it to legend.
Unfortunately, Just like the director's other 19th century epic, this movie was miscast and flatly directed.
Tom Cruise is enjoyable to watch and a helluva nice guy, but he has no edge, you can always tell he's acting, or trying. The part of Algren demanded an actor with an edge to them. Imagine a Gary Oldman , Russel Crowe, Johnny Depp or Tim Roth in the part. The only two scenes that were not flat and lacking in imagination in Glory were the rifle reloading scene and the first battle through the mist. Both of these were shamelessly lifted into Samurai. I teach Japanese history and taught English there for years, I think the culture was well represented but the extreme change that took place is almost unprecedented in human history. How would a David Lean or Ridley Scott have handled those changes? Or the battle scenes?