Product Details

• Actors: Jeff Daniels, Stephen Lang, Mark Aldrich, Robert Duvall, George Allen (III)
• Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• DVD Release Date: September 25, 2007
• Run Time: 219 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (807 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000QFW5QG
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #179,764 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Gods and Generals [HD DVD]" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The more you know about the Civil War, the more you'll appreciate Gods and Generals and the painstaking attention to detail that Gettysburg writer-director Ronald F. Maxwell has invested in this academically respectable 220-minute historical pageant. In adapting Jeffrey Shaara's 1996 novel (encompassing events of 1861-63, specifically the Virginian battles of Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville), Maxwell sacrifices depth for scope while focusing on the devoutly religious "Stonewall" Jackson (Stephen Lang), whose Confederate campaigns endear him to Gen. Robert E. Lee (Robert Duvall, giving the film's most subtle performance). Battles are impeccably recreated using 7,500 Civil War re-enactors and sanitized PG-13 violence, their authenticity compromised by tasteful discretion and endless scenes of grandiloquent dialogue. Still, as the first part of a trilogy that ends with The Last Full Measure, this is a superbly crafted, instantly essential film for Civil War study. For all its misguided priorities, Gods and Generals is a noble effort, honoring faith and patriotism with the kind of reverence that has all but vanished from American film – but provides abundant proof that historical accuracy is no guarantee of great storytelling. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

241 of 265 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars They don't make movies like this anymore!, June 6, 2003

By 

Benbogali "benbogali" (Thiensville, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gods & Generals (DVD)

...The fact is that "Gods and Generals", which covers the first two years of the war and is the prequel to "Gettysburg", is a great movie. It is painstakingly accurate, wonderfully filmed and scripted, and the acting was suburb. Stephen Lang deserves an Oscar for his brilliant portrayal of Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson. Robert Duvall is also excellent as Gen. Robert E. Lee. Jeff Daniels, who played Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain in "Gettysburg", reprises his role in G&G, as do other actors from "Gettysburg".

If you're expecting something like "Saving Private Ryan", you'll be disappointed. It's not that kind of a movie. "Gods and Generals" is part documentary, part drama, with the right mix of both to make it both highly entertaining and historically intriguing. As you listen to the characters, you almost believe that they're from the period and places in which the story is set.

What stuck in the craw of the critics is that this movie didn't present the Confederates as fire-breathing, racist, slavery-defending apes, and the Federals as saintly freedom-fighters. It would be simplistic and wrong to characterize the war as a struggle between good and evil. The vast majority of the Confederate soldiers didn't own slaves and didn't fight for the right to keep slaves. A lot of the Union soldiers, probably most, weren't fighting to free the slaves. There were flawed men on both sides of the war, as well as deeply moral men.

You can debate all you want about how much slavery was an issue in the Civil War, but as to this movie, all points of view were well represented through the characters: Lt. Col. Chamberlain of the 20th Maine, a professor-turned-soldier who was sympathetic to the plight of the black slaves; Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, a man of outstanding military service in the Federal army prior to the Civil War and a most beloved commander, who chose to defend his home state of Virginia against what he saw as an unlawful invasion by the North; Gen. Stonewall Jackson, a fearless and deeply religious man, devoted husband and a brilliant military tactician who loved the Union, but was fiercely loyal to Virginia; Martha, the house slave, who bravely turns away looting Union soldiers from her masters' home during the seige in Fredericksburg, but later takes in the Union's wounded, and who yearns to be free; Jim Lewis, Gen. Jackson's black cook, who prays that one day all of this family will be free. Unforgettable characters, all of them.

If you are uncomfortable with religious overtones and poetic dialogue (sorry, but that's how people were back the), don't buy this DVD. If you don't care at all about American history, skip this one. If you can't watch any historical movie without the filter of 21st century values or political correctness, this movie isn't for you. If you have a short attention span, forget it. This movie clocks in at about 3:37.

If you are interested in the Civil War, or just curious and want to learn about it, if you're tired of all the [stuff] coming out of Hollywood these days, and you're willing to let a movie make you think for a change, if you can put your 21st century frame of mind on hold, I think you'll enjoy this DVD. No matter what the critics are saying, "Gods and Generals" will stand the test of time.

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extended Cut turns mud into Gold, May 24, 2011

By 

Zepharim - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gods and Generals (Two-Disc Extended Director's Cut in Blu-ray Book Packaging) (Blu-ray)

The theatrical release of the film was just one giant mess of a film. Great acting, sets, cinematography, and of course historically accurate, but still a mess. A search on rottentomatoes.com shows the film to have about an 8% rating which makes someone wonder 'did Uwe Boll direct this?' Plenty of people will hate it because the only slaves depicted in it are the exceptionally well-treated ones. Even watching it again, some of those scenes do still bother me as well, but a new viewer needs to take in account this film about the civil war is NOT focused on the issue of slavery. Of course, the theatrical version isn't focused on anything at all and the was the biggest problem with it.

I initially saw it when it first came out on DVD and expected 'Gettysburg' and what I found instead was a horrendously uneven and unfocused plot. Every scene was either dragged out too long, or rushed, and the transitioning always felt random. With this new extended cut, the movie gains an extra hour. That's right, a near four hour movie is now a near five hour movie. Now I'm a sucker for extended cuts even when the original was mediocre at best. My personal favorites are Dances with Wolves (another hour of greatness), and Kingdom of Heaven (fixes EVERYTHING, except the mis-casted Orlando Bloom). An example of a terrible one is Alexander: Final Cut (Jesus would have trouble raising THAT from the dead).

Gods and Generals is now officially the one movie that benefits more than any other film by having an extended cut. With the added hour and re-edit of the entire movie beginning to end, the pacing of the whole film is restored. Viewers ignorant of the civil war will understand whats going on much better. The characters gain more depth with the added scenes on and off the battlefield. There's a subplot about John Wilkes Booth that adds thematically to the film in a way that's subtle and yet profound, especially towards the end (no, JWB is not portrayed as a 'hero').

In short, a well-intentioned yet disastrous film becomes (I am NOT joking) a cinematic masterpiece. If you at least appreciated what the Theatrical release was trying to accomplish you'll enjoy this new extended cut. You may not be ecstatic about it as I am, but you'll at least agree that it's a solid improvement.

Theatrical Release: 4/10
Extended-Cut: 10/10

43 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Work - Only certain types can appreciate it, June 2, 2003

By 

G. Scott Nelson "scottnelson9" (Frisco, texas United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gods & Generals (DVD)

This is not your typical movie - One has to expect that. I actually like it, because it is not Hollywood and not slick and polished, but more like about how things really were in the war. Acting of Stonewall Jackson was excellently done and well portrayed in the movie. The level of detail was tremendous, but if you just want a regular fast paced, low detail, low frills movie, then you will hate it...I have watched movies less than half this length and been bored stiff. This is a very complete movie with truth that makes its mark and wish more historical dramas/war movies had this detail, because sometimes it is so hard to beleive what really happened in the past unless you see and understand the smallest details.