jscreenwrite

First and foremost is the story. No matter what kind of special effects or horrific battle scenes you toss in, you've got to have a story. This film lacks even the rudiments of a good story. This film is so plotless that it makes it difficult to criticize. Its hard to discuss something that isn't there! In other words, the plot is so very simplistic as to be non existent. It seems that the director was so dazzled by the cinematography, so wrapped up in capturing the boys in blue and gray, that he utterly failed to bother with plot or character development. What you end up with is a "pretty" film with no substance. The movie equivalent of a beautiful blonde with the intelligence of a gnat. Unfortunately even this glossy initial appearance fades quickly as well. The battle scenes are pedestrian and unrewarding. Attempts to use sound design to fool the viewer into thinking there are a lot more soldiers than what we see on screen, fail abysmally. And the failure of the director to actually take the viewer into the battle, leaves you with an unemotional "third person" documentary feel. So what you get after looking past the apparent glitz and glamour of this Civil War movie, is a very weak, overly simplistic, lackluster montage of battle scenes.