Succumbs to turgidity. And...intentionally or not...conveys the impression that the film uncritically celebrates the Confederacy. [Blu-ray]

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | May 30, 2011

Meticulous Civil War story runs a little long.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 24, 2010

Everybody is so good and decent that it's hard to tell where the generals leave off and the gods start.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Oct 29, 2008

A labour of love with special interest to history buffs, this epic film is extraordinary in many ways.

Full Review | Oct 18, 2008

Maxwell continues his textbook emphasis on military maneuvers, but despite literally thousands of Civil War reenactors recruited for the film, the wide-screen canvas fails to map the tactics or evoke the terror of battle.

Full Review | Feb 27, 2007

The big battles impress, but become somewhat samey. Part Three is threatened.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 30, 2006

The procession of monotonous, oddly gore-free battles breaks frequently for bloated speechifying.

Full Review | Jun 24, 2006

Then there is 'Gods and Generals,' cut from the same production cloth as 'Gettysburg' but a film of very loose ends.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Oct 15, 2004

You will watch a series of battle re-enactments and wait for a film to break out.

Full Review | Dec 1, 2003

Every shot is fired in sorrow, and there are no villains - except, of course, for the politicians, who remain safely out of the frame.

Full Review | Oct 17, 2003

Thinks it is grand without ever being so.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 10, 2003

Imagine watching half of Band of Brothers in one sitting, but with the story moving at a much slower pace.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 25, 2003

Incredibly boring and badly acted.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Jul 8, 2003

War may be Hell, but in this three-and-a-half-hour Civil War epic from Ronald Maxwell, the syrupy monologues and righteous Bible thumping provide the punishment.

Full Review | Jul 2, 2003

Swapping politics for crass platitudes, Gods and Generals is a monumental folly.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Jun 24, 2003

An interesting film weakened by ham-fisted writing and direction and heavy-handed revisionism.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 19, 2003

Maxwell has made the, shall we say interesting, decision to change [Stonewall Jackson]God's hellcat into a warm and fuzzy teddy bear.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Apr 5, 2003

A stiff and stilted historical pageant that somehow manages to make the savage tumult of thousands pitched against thousands seem not so much dreadul as dreadfully dull.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Mar 25, 2003

Full of windy speeches about honor, god, fealty, and so on, the movie comes to a literal standstill whenever one of these noble addresses is about to be delivered.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Mar 10, 2003

Stay far away from the three hour-plus Gods and Generals--unless, of course, you need a good nap.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Mar 7, 2003