This is a flat, confusing mess.
Dennis Quaid has a large cameo, Jason Patrick is asleep or seems to be most of the time and the itself film dozes off when Billy Bob Thornton is off-screen.
It never really stirs the blood, the battle scenes are tame and flat.
It's like an edited down TV miniseries. But when Thornton is on screen the film takes off. It is a rare example of a good actor carrying a movie.
The John Wayne version was very long but Wayne and co. bailed it out with charisma and it was the "Epic" that the subject deserved.
This version is astonishingly flat considering the commitment expressed by everyone in the DVD featurettes.
Dennis Quaid has a large cameo, Jason Patrick is asleep or seems to be most of the time and the itself film dozes off when Billy Bob Thornton is off-screen.
It never really stirs the blood, the battle scenes are tame and flat.
It's like an edited down TV miniseries. But when Thornton is on screen the film takes off. It is a rare example of a good actor carrying a movie.
The John Wayne version was very long but Wayne and co. bailed it out with charisma and it was the "Epic" that the subject deserved.
This version is astonishingly flat considering the commitment expressed by everyone in the DVD featurettes.