Review by dsgoorevitch

What a preposterous movie! From the very first, every Union soldier is a dolt, stupid, vain or cowardly. The Confederates are yahoos. Only Costner's Lieutenant is an Enlightened One. No wonder the Hollywood crew loved this cliché ridden rubbish; badly written, badly acted, badly shot (like a TV movie) with bathetic music that telegraphs messages along with the anvil necessary to deliver its sordid point on the heads of mindless audience members. The narration is delivered with a deadpan and passionless voice that sounds like something that has long been drowned in deep water.

I think I liked Costner once. Yes, it was in "Tin Cup" where he played a bone-headed golfer without an ounce of subtlety or common sense but, with plain hard work "gets there" if you consider being a loser getting there. Who knew that Costner really is Roy McAvoy, shooting, shooting, shooting to get that ball on the 18th green, never laying up but going straight for the hole with blinders on.

A wonderful self-congratulatory hug from all the people in Hollywood to all the people in Hollywood. Kiss-kiss. How do I look? Make-up!