SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Nice effects though.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

35% - The filmmakers fanboy-ing over their fantasy iteration of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. His demise marks the end of the film.35% - Blatantly revisionist 'Lost Cause' propaganda masquerading as 'history'. Depicts blacks in the confederacy as a collection of Uncle Remus and Aunt Jemima characters serving the cause of their own free will. Shows only major battles which were counted as confederate victories (completely ignores the Battle of Shiloh).10% - A subplot involving two stage actors mostly so the film-makers can allude to President Lincoln's assassination, includes a particular lurid performance of the murder scene from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.20% - Only this part is a true prequel to 'Gettysburg'; shows the pre-Gettysburg story of the 20th Maine and Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, including their decimation at the Battle of Fredricksburg**tl;dr** 80% pro-confederate Hogwash; go re-watch 'Gettysburg' instead

This movie must have been one of the most tedious pieces of whitewashing cinematography, which is an insult to all those who died and suffered in the US Civil War. One of the biggest cringe worthy character in the whole movie was the bible thumping, self-righteous maniac "Stonewall Jackson". Most obvious miss representation of the whole war was with the "Cook" he accepts in his service and all the lines that "Cook" had to say. I believe that the said movies should be remade by Spielberg and Hanks, now that would be one hell of a history lesson with way less whitewashing. There were too many speeches to justify the cause, be that of the North or South. However, speeches of the South were true, in your face, whitewashing bull and cow dung.

In general, this was a nicely done Civil War film. In a somewhat unusual plot, the South is not shown as a rebellious people, but rather a group of prideful men fighting to protect their homes and families. The movie shows several battles that occurred in the South, all of which were won by the South. However, it does not promote the idea of slavery. At several points, different characters on both sides denounce slavery. The movie does a good job at letting us see the humane side of southerners. It mainly follows Confederate General Jackson and his life during the early stages of the Civil War. Through his encounters with his wife, and a touching friendship with a young girl, we are able to watch and understand that these people had private lives away from the camps and battlefields. Finally, the movie shows the importance of religion on both sides. God is used to explain some of the horrors of the war, as shown in the repeated use of the phrase "Thy will be done," and in some cases, it was the only thing that gave men the courage to fight. The prominence of religion is accurate for this time period. The only downside to the movie is its length. The battle scenes, although engaging, were somewhat uninteresting due to the lack of emotional attachment to the characters actually doing the fighting.

I hated this movie in the theater. I hated it on DVD. THEN we got The Extended Version.....This movie was originally six hours long. They slashed and burned it down to 229 minutes for the theater. The extended version brings it up to 280 minutes. What a DIFFERENCE adding back that 51 minutes makes.In the theater version, Stonewall comes off as a sappy guy with a religious bent and a penchant for children. So many things in this movie never make sense, even to those who have seen it more than once, or those who know history. In the extended version, Stonewall becomes a whole man. He's not sappy. He's not a weirdo. And the movie makes SENSE. Dots are connected. Ts are crossed. It's actually Exciting!Beards are much better this time around, too. ;)An aside note, I do wish that the credits would list the actors in accordance with the side they fought on. So many times we saw an actor, "Hey, he was in Gettysburg" and then were unable to find the actor's name.