6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.1 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
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.
Starring: Jeff Daniels, Stephen Lang, Robert Duvall, Mira Sorvino, Kevin Conway (I)War | 100% |
History | 98% |
Drama | 86% |
Epic | 77% |
Action | 59% |
Video codec: VC-1
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English, English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
I have no greater duty than to my home.
One of my two majors in college was in history. I love history, especially the history of conflict.
As such, I'm a fan of war movies, especially those focusing on the Vietnam conflict. I quite enjoy
Civil War films as well. Unfortunately, there just aren't that many to choose from. Glory
and Gettysburg, both fine movies, are the best of the best. Then there is Gods and
Generals. One of my college courses was an upper level Civil War course taught by Dr. Steven Woodworth. He's
one of the foremost Civil War historians in the country, and to say he didn't like this movie, for a
myriad of reasons, would be an understatement. Perhaps his most adamant dislike for the film is
his
perception that the film "is the most pro-Confederate film since Birth of a Nation."
His course was an eye-opener in a number of ways. He busted several Civil War myths and
provided wonderful insight into the whole ordeal and to this movie. One can argue about
historical
inaccuracies, the length of the film, and omissions of key battles and moments until they're blue
(or gray) in the face, and I'll leave that to the professionals. Personally, I find Gods and
Generals to have some very good and touching moments, some exciting battle sequences,
and generally good acting all around. It certainly could have been a better film, perhaps
shortened up a bit, but it is, after all, an epic film, completely accurate or not.
The devout General Jackson prepares his men for battle.
This 2.40:1, 1080p presentation of Gods and Generals arrives on Blu-ray as a mixed bag of at times stunning imagery and at other times simply as a decent looking image devoid of life and vibrancy. One of the best aspects of this image quality is the attention to fine detail. For example, every stitch in the flags at the beginning are clearly visible. Colors are rich and vibrant, especially (and once again) in the numerous flags seen throughout the picture. There is nary a speck on this print. Flesh tones look great. On the downside, the image looks a little bright and washed out. It appears to clean itself up after a while, and then once again it falls into looking washed out again. Black levels suffer during the washed out scenes and are often the main culprit of them. Overall, however, this is a pleasant image that serves the movie well.
Warner Brothers has once again foregone a lossless audio track in favor of a Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Dialogue sounds natural and clear. Some instances of heavy bass (such as the beating of drums) came through the front speakers with nothing coming from the subwoofer. There is nice ambience throughout; we hear owls hooting and crickets chirping in the quieter scenes. Dialogue, and there is quite a bit of it in the film's 3 hours and 39 minutes, is never an issue, sounding crisp and natural from beginning to end. Of course, the primary focus of this soundtrack is the battle scenes, and they sound wonderful. Bass picks up, gunshots, cannons, explosions, screams, the trotting and running of horses, and the clanging of metal are heard all around, creating an immersive 360-degree sound field. Voices shouting out orders echo. It sounds absolutely marvelous as the sounds of war emanate from every direction in the room. While a Lossless audio track would have been a welcome addition, Gods and Generals offers up one of the more impressive Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks I have heard and for a lossy track, this one is hard to beat.
There are some decent supplements on this disc. First is a commentary with writer/director Ron
Maxwell, director of VMI Museum operations Keith Gibson, and Virginia Tech Alumni professor
James Robertson. The commentary is broken into "sections" that only cover 1:28:25 of the
movie. It's rather odd, but I guess it's hard to fill in nearly four hours of movie, even with three
participants. They discuss creating a movie that will make Civil War buffs happy while making it
easy for the layman to understand as well. We get some very interesting Civil War history and
anecdotes that are sure to interest students of history.
Ted Turner provides an introduction to the film (480p, 3:00). He discusses how he grew up "in
the
shadow of the Civil War" and how his passion for making Civil War films was finally brought to
realization. A Journey to the Past (480p, 21:59), hosted by Ron Maxwell and Donzaleigh
Abernathy, is nothing more than your average promotional fluff piece that has cast and crew
talking about why this is such a good movie and about the history behind the movie. The
Authenticities of the Film (480p, 12:53) looks at the painstaking efforts that went into
making the film as historically accurate as possible, notably using the town of Harper's Ferry in
lieu of creating a set for Fredericksburg. By the way, "authenticities" is not a word. The Life
of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson (480p,
14:28) is a short biography of the famed general.
Visit Virginia (480p, 0:31) is a short advertisement for historical tourism in the state of
Virginia. Two music videos, Cross the Green Mountain (480p, 3:13) by Bob Dylan and
Going Home (480p, 3:58) by Mary Fahl are included. Finally, the film's theatrical trailer
(480p, 1:40) finishes off the supplements.
Gods and Generals is not anywhere near as good as Gettysburg or Glory, but sprawling, epic Civil War films are hard to come by and as such, Gods and Generals cannot be ignored as an important entry into the annals of war films. This is a controversial and divisive film, but then again so is the Civil War as a whole, even more than 140 years after the final shots were fired. As always for such a controversial film, it's best to watch the movie, read up on the events depicted in the film from several sources, and decide for yourself how fair and accurate it is. If you choose to do so, this Blu-ray edition of Gods and Generals is clearly the way to go. It sports a solid picture quality and great audio, both on top of a fairly good serving of extras. Recommended.
Extended Director's Cut
2003
Extended Director's Cut
2003
Extended Director's Cut | Single Disc
2003
Extended Director's Cut
2003
Director's Cut
1993
1989
2-Disc Special Edition
2006
1965
1977
1969
1962
2005-2006
2000
1970
2002
1970
Director's Cut
2005
2003
Commemorative 20th Anniversary Edition
1998
2005
9 rota
2005
1987
2011
Jí Jié Hào
2007