Utter drivel. I've never been more embarassed after seeing a movie before. Every cliche you could possibly think of is in this movie. It simply has no heart, no soul. Going into it, I was feeling apprehensive regarding the controversy behind the scenes. Ron Howard and Russell Crowe were originally slated to be involved, but they dropped out due to the studio disagreeing with Howard. Out with Howard, in with John Lee Hancock who's previous directing credit is "The Rookie". The entire narrative structure seems hastily thrown together instead of carefully throught out. It's evident that a master is not at work. There was no concept of distance, or time. Or the significance of the stand at the Alamo. The writing is truly abysmal. There are many wooden lines that just fall dead as soon as they are uttered by the actors. Billy Bob Thornton is passable as Davy Crockett, but Jason Patric as Bowie and Patrick Wilson as Travis are subpar. There are also the cliched black characters, as well as Santa Anna being completely over the top. Dennis Quaid did his best Howard Dean impersonation in his role as Sam Houston. The pacing is too slow, and the battle is very anticlimactic. There was absolutely no emotional impact at all, which is surprising as I am a native Texan. Someday, somebody should devote a trilogy to the War for Texan Independence. The first movie for the Alamo, the second for Goliad, and the third for San Jacinto. Until then, be content with the John Wayne version. Don't waste your time with this cinematic turd. Grade: F
My brother in law(who runs the projectors at a theater) says the best part of the Alamo was when Crockett got executed(he hates BillyBob) otherwise he thought it sucked as well... I personally dont think they could surpass the excellence that is the Duke's version...so have no plans to see it.
I thought it was a great movie. I was thoroughly entertained the entire time. I'm a big fan of Texas history, though, so maybe that explains it.
For a second there, I thought the next Star Wars movie had come out. Or that Peter Jackson had decided to extend LOTR: you know, "Sauron Strikes Back".
Really? Who? bigtexxx - I'm a big fan of Texas history also. Did you not wonder about the absence of Rusk and Lamar at Jacinto? Or any sort of realistic depiction of that battle at all?
well they must have moved back the release date several times because i've been seeing trailer for this movie forever. i guess starting last summer and then the trailers died down for a while and i wondered where it went and then they sneaked back out. i have to say the trailer looked pretty boring... my girlfriend refuses to see this movie with be because she really dislikes the trailer, so this movie is the only other one on her boycott list besides teh prince and me... which i keep trying to convince her about. but anyway... watched the ebert and roeper show and they gave it 2 thumbs up... however they did mention that the dialogue was really bad. but i think they said that battle scenes were good and the pacing was good too. i mean i guess it's always good when major events in history is made into big budget movies... it's good for the kids. hopefully the trailer doesn't do the film justice. anyway... what trailer is truly spectacular is the new Kill Bill one... not the one that was posted but it was on TV this weekend. Hopefully the film will do the trailer justice.
yeah... he's going to make it in 2019? the premise sounds interesting. the son/daughter of a master seeks revenge but finds the magnitude of own mother/father's misdeeds in the process. major archetype in Kung Fu movies... and I guess in literature in general.
Yes the accuracy of the battle of San Jacinto was lacking. I remember thinking that during the movie. That didn't keep me from really enjoying it, though.
Can't say it's surprising, but dissappointing nonetheless. It would have had to have been really great to justify a remake imo, because it will always be compared to the Wayne one, which, other than the tacked on love interest, was pretty damn good.
I bet this stat is hard for Disney to swallow..... The movie cost over 100M to make and only made 9.2M in the opening weekend. Talk about a MAJOR disaster! The reason Howard and Crowe were not involved was that Disney wanted to LOWER production costs! This movie shouldn't have even been made. Other than those in Texas no one even cares. There are enough BIG Budget War moves over the years that people would rather see.
