We watched the movie Gettysburg tonight (but only half of it because Dad turned into a big sissy because he has to work tomorrow. HEE). Anyway... I'm a bit disappointed. I mean, I still love the movie - it's an old favorite of mine - but it's not as good as I remembered. It's sooooo not realistic, and you know I hate that. Omg, when the cannons fired... you know how cannons shoot and are pushed back quite a bit? Like on Pirates of the Caribbean even, with the smaller cannon on the ships, the kick made them go back quite a few feet every time they fired (they would've gone farther if they weren't restrained by ropes that bound them to the sides of the ship so they wouldn't roll too far). Well those Civil War cannon were HUGE! Huge, powerful guns - much more advanced and stronger than the types used in PotC, but... what happened when one was fired in Gettysburg? This little *POOF*, and they moved maybe a few INCHES. It was so retarded!! And omg. When a shot hit in the field? It would have made a giant explosion. But in the movie? This little white *poof* in the grass - it was so pathetic, I'm quite sure I could've done better myself LOL.
They were even using FIREWORKS for special effects. A couple large bottle rockets went by. WTF? Bottle rockets! I'm so not kidding, they even made the whistling sound and everything. And the deaths!! These reenactors did NOT know how to die realistically. It looked like something from a John Wayne western, where they suddenly freeze and dramatically clutch their chest and fall to the ground with this overly shocked look. ARRGH.
And don't get me started on the reenactors themselves. GEEZ. In Saving Private Ryan, they used actual guys from the Irish Army, right? And the main actors were put through a rigorous, one-week bootcamp and pushed to the brink, so they KNEW how to look and carry themselves as real soldiers, and were the right age, etc. But in Gettysburg... they used all these old, fat Civil War reenactors. No offense to them, I'm sure they're great guys and I appreciate their knowledge of the battles and weapons used, and I also appreciate that they take the time to ensure that we don't forget about these things, but it's just not accurate at all to be used in a movie. The guys that fought in the regular infantry in the Civil War were mostly aged 16 to 20 - young kids - and they were in GREAT shape. They weren't all these 50-year-old dudes with gray hair and huge beer guts. Sorry, it just irks me. The rest of the movie, the events and costumes, etc, was superb. But the battles? I wanted to shoot myself.
I wish Steven Spielberg would do a Civil War movie... you KNOW he'd do it right. It'd be awesome if he made one about Antietam, I'd really like to see that.
Don't get me wrong, I still love Gettysburg, I'm just so annoyed. It did bring back memories though..... All the guys I liked way back then, heh. Longstreet... Buford... Chamberlain... Pickett... Armistead..... ahh, good times. I've missed 'em. At least I understood more of what was taking place this time around. I've not seen this movie since I was very young, and never really undersood everything that was actually happening, besides the fact that a bunch of Yanks and Rebs were running around in pretty scenary whilst shooting at each other and all the officers having seemingly important conversations between battles - but heck if I knew what they were talking about. Now that I've read the book the movie was based on, The Killer Angels, I finally can watch it and comprehend everything.
Oh, another thing that bothers me: the music. Not to be misunderstood, I LOVE the soundtrack and think it's one of the most beautiful ones composed, but... in the movie, it was so over-done. There's music playing constantly, in parts where silence would really do wonders. Again, I look at Saving Private Ryan... when they stormed the beach at Normandy, there was complete silence, and it really gave the scene a sobering effect that made you give your full attention to what was happening. Even when not in battle. There were scenes where they were just walking through fields - no music at all, just the clinking of their canteens and weapons at the ready and the sounds of the rain and enemy gunfire off in the distance. It gave you an ominous feeling and you could almost understand the fear and uncertainty they must've been facing.. simply because of the silence.
Gettysburg, on the other hand... There's music in just about EVERY SCENE. There's all this fighting going on, men dying, dire circumstances, but it just keeps going on and on in the background: this beautiful, pristine, and triumphant music. A time when silence and only the sounds of guns being fired and men screaming would have had a far greater effect. The constant music takes away from that, and almost makes parts of it humorous, when they shouldn't be. Maybe I'm reading too far into it, but whenever I watch a movie, I always pay a lot of attention to detail, and that includes the musical score. It's what completes the atmosphere of it.
Oh well, what can ya do. I hate to tear it apart like this, it still is one of my favorite movies ever and I love it dearly, I just wish they'd have done it better. This is one of the greatest stories in the history of America and it deserves better than this - I don't feel they quite did it justice, and that makes me sad.
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