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Gods and Generals [HD DVD] | ![Gods and Generals [HD DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51E-zv-zhRL._SL500_.jpg) | Director: Ronald F. Maxwell
Actors: Stephen Lang, Robert Duvall, Jeff Daniels, Mark Aldrich, George Allen
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
Buy New: $39.95
as of 2/9/2010 22:41 EST details
New (6) Used (2) from $26.98
Seller: Andrewljpolo
Rating:  752 reviews
Sales Rank: 83874
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: HD DVD
Region: 0
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 219 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 114265
UPC: 085391142652
EAN: 0085391142652
ASIN: B000QFW5QG
Theatrical Release Date: February 21, 2003
Release Date: September 25, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
The more you know about the Civil War, the more you'll appreciate Gods and Generals and the painstaking attention to detail that Gettysburg writer-director Ronald F. Maxwell has invested in this academically respectable 220-minute historical pageant. In adapting Jeffrey Shaara's 1996 novel (encompassing events of 1861-63, specifically the Virginian battles of Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville), Maxwell sacrifices depth for scope while focusing on the devoutly religious "Stonewall" Jackson (Stephen Lang), whose Confederate campaigns endear him to Gen. Robert E. Lee (Robert Duvall, giving the film's most subtle performance). Battles are impeccably recreated using 7,500 Civil War re-enactors and sanitized PG-13 violence, their authenticity compromised by tasteful discretion and endless scenes of grandiloquent dialogue. Still, as the first part of a trilogy that ends with The Last Full Measure, this is a superbly crafted, instantly essential film for Civil War study. For all its misguided priorities, Gods and Generals is a noble effort, honoring faith and patriotism with the kind of reverence that has all but vanished from American film - but provides abundant proof that historical accuracy is no guarantee of great storytelling. --Jeff Shannon
Description
A sweeping epic charting the early years of the Civil War and how campaigns unfolded from Manassas to the Battle of Fredericksburg, this prequel to the film Gettysburg explores the motivations of the combatants and examines the lives of those who waited at home.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 752
 A Prequel to "Gettysburg" with a Disjointed Narrative February 7, 2010
Mark J. Fowler (Okinawa, Japan)
"Gods and Generals" boasts most of the same creative team that teamed to make the spell-binding "Gettysburg (Widescreen Edition)". Ronald Maxwell again directs, this time from the book by Jeff Shaara. Jeff is the son of Michael Shaara, who wrote "The Killer Angels", the Pulitzer-Prize winning book that served as the source for "Gettysburg".
Many familiar faces appear again in roles from the earlier film. Jeff Daniels and C. Thomas Howell and Kevin Conway again appear as Joshua and Thomas Chamberlain and the fictional Buster Kilrain. Daniels and Conway again team to produce a few of the best scenes of this film, both of them articulating in a way most characters are not allowed. There are significant cast changes. Martin Sheen was heavily involved in "The West Wing" and was unable to reprise General Robert E. Lee. Lee is portrayed this time by Sheen's colleague from "Apocalypse Now", Robert Duvall. Normally I would think that casting of Duvall would be an upgrade from almost any other available actor, but comparing the two versions of the legendary Commander of the Army of Virginia, I found Sheen's depiction elegant and serenely regal, with a temper that can be unleashed (as when Sheen's Lee tears into J.E.B. Stuart for not keeping his cavalry close as Gettysburg unfolds) and a human compassion perhaps best exemplified when the ragged rebel troops retreat from Pickett's disastrous charge and Lee rides out to tell the troops "it was my fault." Duvall's Lee is quirkier and seems oddly detached in comparison.
Tom Berenger is no longer on hand to portray General Longstreet. Early in "Gettysburg" you can sense the dutiful resignation as he unsuccessfully tries to persuade Robert E. Lee to force the Union Army into pursuit by moving toward Washington, then later you can feel his heartsickness as he knows Pickett's Charge is bound to fail and wordlessly waives his troops forward to the suicidal advance. Bruce Boxleitner's Longstreet is decidedly less three-dimensional.
The excellent Stephen Lang again is cast, but instead of playing the flamboyant Pickett, this time he has a leading role as General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.
The film is huge in scope, covering two years from the secession of Virginia (which is preceded by the offer to Robert E. Lee to command the Federal Army) to Chancellorsville. As a historically accurate document it is selective: the single bloodiest battle of American history, Antietam, is not mentioned (although there are reports that it was cut from a six hour version of the movie. Curious that the full "director's cut" doesn't make it to the DVD - the audience that would sit through 4 hours of re-enactment would likely want the chance to have the "most accurate" version of the film.) But I digress.
Where Gettysburg focused on the soldiers, "G&G" gives us a handful of stilted subplots. We see the wives of Chamberlain and Jackson in scenes designed to show the tender, human sides of these men, but their dialogue doesn't ring true on modern ears. Since these scenes aren't based on historical record couldn't Maxwell and Shaara have given us more human dialogue instead of having these great men offering scripture and poetry quotations?
Amid the noble and heroic whites on both sides are two significant black characters - Frankie Faison plays Jim Lewis, a free black man with a reputation as a good cook who is hired by Stonewall Jackson. Donzaleigh Abernathy, the daughter of Civil Rights Activist Ralph Abernathy, plays Martha, a noble and loyal slave who stays at the manse in Fredericksburg to shoo away invading Union Troops when the rest of the family skedaddles. Later the house is occupied anyway and Martha nurses injured union soldiers and gives an impassioned plea for freedom to General Hancock. General Jackson is kind and respectful toward Mr. Lewis, and tells him that he's certain the south would also free the slaves, so it's going to happen on way or `tuther. Although Jackson and Robert E. Lee were reported to be against slavery, it would not be difficult to say that having these two characters be the only blacks in a movie of this scope and scale trivializes the fact that millions of blacks were enslaved, scant few were free, and hardly any were treated with the respect these characters receive. It's almost as if Maxwell wants to portray something 180 degrees from "Uncle Tom's Cabin", but if you didn't already know about slavery you wouldn't learn much from this film. I think the filmmakers wanted a movie that would stand almost as a historical document, but whether or not you agree that the Civil War was about slavery, you'd be naïve to not acknowledge that it was on the minds of all participants to some extent or `tuther.
For those who might wonder: I'm a white Son of the Glorious South. There are wonderful things in this film, but there are significant gaps as well.
 Great Civil War movie January 22, 2010
James D. Wohlhueter
Great Civil War movie. Some things are wrong, very few. But a great movie. A movie you can learn from. A teaching movie.
Highly recommend!!!!!!
One of the greatest Civil War films ever made. December 31, 2009
Zeeboe (Texas)
Extremely detailed, and very historically accurate. Ted Turner spent top dollar to make "Gods and Generals" as real as possible, and he did an excellent job. If you want to know what life was like during the 1860's, this is the film to see. Even little details the average viewer may not even notice is included in the movie.
My ONLY complaints is that we did not get to see things from the Union point of view enough in my personal and humble opinion. i.e. How Northern Civilians reacted to the war, the men in blue preparing for it, etc. And not all southern's wanted to secede from the country. Quite a few did not actually, and I wish the story could have focused on that issue some.
The film does focus on Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the Twentieth Maine for the most part when showing the audience the viewpoint of the Federal troops.
I think one of the reasons why many rebels believed it would be a short war is because they knew quite a lot of them were mountain and woodsmen. Real tough and rough guys who thought Unionists were stuck up, rich boys who wouldn't stand a chance against them, not at all realizing that many, many men up North were also gentlemen of nature too that hunted, had farms, and lived off the land. I believe that is the case with all the men in the Twentieth Maine.
Since I first saw the film "Gettysburg" when I was a kid, I have been fascinated with Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. I also became a huge Jeff Daniels fan as a result of his performance as Chamberlain, and I was happy to see him reunite with C. Thomas Howell and Kevin Conway in "Gods and Generals". I really loved that trio in "Gettysburg", and it was great seeing them together again.
I am very satisfied with the screen time the Twentieth Maine received in both films, but I think it's human nature for people to want more, and it would have been nice to see more screen time for the Twentieth Maine. But I still have books. I've already planned to read Gods and Generals, The Killer Angels, The Last Full Measure, as well as The Twentieth Maine by John J. Pullen. So I'm sure I'll learn quite a bit more about Chamberlain and his men.
I know many of the U.S. troops at that time cared more about preserving the Union, which is fine and honorable, but I'm also glad Chamberlain was of the men who not only wanted to keep the country together, but also had a deep desire to end slavery.
I'm sure this film attracted many people who are sympathetic towards the Confederacy, but hopefully those people were open-minded enough to learn more about the Union side of things when Jeff Daniels was on screen, and had a better understanding of why some Union soldiers were fighting in the war.
The DVD Was Fine With Me December 9, 2009
Travis W. Mckee (Oklahoma)
Divers of other reviews lament the double-sided DVD, but I'm a veteran of handling these enough that it isn't a gripe with me at all.
However, it is a minor gripe that the conclusion of one side pulls you out of the movie. With the Gods & Generals release, you're pulled out during the charge of the Irish Brigade, and the movie is cut kind of funny, so you aren't inserted right back when you flip to side B. This is a shame, because this is walking into the part of the movie where Joshua Chamberlain's role really shines.
Mary Fahl's 'Going Home' theme at the beginning should win over viewers right away. From there, through the fine instrumental scoring throughout, and even to Bob Dylan's melancholy whaling at the credits, this is a greatly scored film, scoring that could hold it's own with anything.
The central character is General Jackson. At times, it will seem more like a Jackson biopic than a movie where the Civil War is the subject. This make Stephen Lang unquestionably the star of the film. Contemporary audiences will definitely flinch at times at what may seem an absurdly melodramatic portrayal, but I can't honestly say there's any other way one could really inhabit the role of General Jackson. I certainly don't question his casting.
And I also don't question the casting of Robert Duvall as General Lee. He may be the only living actor with the gravitas for it, and he marked a vast improvement over Martin Sheen. Now, Sheen was fine in that TV series as President Bartlet, but there's the gravitas for playing presidents, and then there's a level for Robert E Lee. Duvall had the quality to inhabit the role. It was perhaps the strongest supporting role ever, with the possible exception of Gerald McRaney as Patton in the much overlooked 'Ike'.
I have a lot of enthusiasm for what I saw in this picture, but will admit going in not looking for a movie. I went in with the eye of an editor, and must agree with all the other reviews concerning pacing and whatnot. The craftsmanship is perfect, but this is a miniseries shoehorned into a movie. You'll love it if you make those allowances, and you too will find yourself daydreaming of cutting this into the perfect miniseries.
 Opportunity lost December 4, 2009
George T. Goebel (Baltimore, MD USA)
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
The best thing about this film is the song during the opening credits sung by the great Mary Fahl. After that it's a fast downhill slide. I'm amazed at the amount of four and five stars that reviewers here have awarded this mess of a movie and can only guest that they are coming from that strange breed of person known as the "Civil War Re-enactor". Bad acting, bad beards(like it's sequel Gettysburg), bad computer generated images and above all fake battles using overweight civil war re-enactors. Director Ron Maxwell directs this film like he was back in the 1950's with 50's sensibilities. Any war movie, this one in particular, that ignores the groundbreaking vision that Steven Speilberg gave us in 1998 with his magnificent "Saving Private Ryan" deserves the failure this film had at the box office. What an opportunity Maxwell had. First of all he ignored two of the most fundamental rules of the post "Ryan" battle scene, no soundtrack music during a battle unless it is provided by the fife and drum corps existing in the scene and plenty of handheld camera work. Maxwell uses romantic battle hymns during the big battles and there are plenty of smooth slick tracking and crane shots during his essentially bloodless events. Nowhere do we see the visions of hell that I have read about by survivors of these hideous conflicts where modern industrial weaponry met napoleonic battle tactics.
Some fine actors were wasted in this film most notably Jeff Daniels and Robert Duvall as an incredibly pale Robert E. Lee. These men were sunburnt and weathered, they spent all of their time outdoors on horses. Steven Lang plays a romantic version of "Stonewall" Jackson, a departure from the tactical killing machine who was Lee's right arm. Oh I could go on and on. A really great film about our nations most horrendous folly has still never been made. Until that happens I would suggest instead of "Gods and Generals" either Ken Burn's monumental series "The Civil War" or the small independent film "Pharoahs Army" with Patricia Clarkson and the great Chris Cooper.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 752
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