I had the opportunity to see this movie on Tues. night at a Houston preview. In short, it was overly long and could really use some heavy editing. I give it 2 1/2 stars out of 5. Some of the lowpoints of the 3.75 hour movie: Gen Jackson prays/reads the bible aloud way to much. Jackson's wife is an eyesore and has too many scenes. There are to many duplicate scenes of "Honey/Mom/Dad, I've got to go fight to support my state/convictions, I shall return". The Christmas celebration scene is terrible. I wanted to leave the theatre at this point. Highpoints Battle scenes are good. I thought there should be more gore and blood, but not because I enjoy that. I felt it just wasn't realistic not to show it. Probably wanted to avoid an R rating, but guys taking grape at point blank just fall down instead of getting shredded. Learned a lot about battle of Fredericksburg. Bull Run and Chancellorsville are cool, but you don't get to see so much of the planning and execution. It's more chaotic to the viewer. Fredericksburg you get to see the two sides plan and execute the debacle. Scenery is great. Looks like they did a lot of location shooting with CGI to take out power lines/modern buildings. The best highpoint you have to look for: When Jeb Stuart meets Gen Jackson for the first time, watch for the right side of Jeb's beard coming loose. The makeup guys didn't put enough glue on, and it looks really goofy. There is a sustained scene with close-ups, so it's really obvious. Editor should of caught this. All in all, I'm glad I saw it on a free pass. My recommendation is to wait for video so you can skip the boring/bad stuff and get right to the action. It's tough to sit through. Looking forward to the F&F games this will inspire in LSHM. Back to Dispatch March 2003 Table of Contents Back to Dispatch List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by HMGS Mid-South This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com