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Review by: Jack Foley | Rating:
Two
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES: None listed
JOHN Lee Hancock’s character-driven historical epic, The
Alamo, has the dubious distinction of being one of the costliest
flops of all-time, having cost over $100 million to make, and
taking only $9 million during its first weekend at the US box
office.
Yet, in spite of the misgivings of American audiences, the film
actually remains a worthy portrayal of one of the key moments
in the nation’s history, driven by some quality performances,
and a classic style of story-telling.
The story behind the Alamo is the stuff of legend, when a handful
of men, including James Bowie and David Crockett, stood up for
what they believed in, and made the ultimate sacrifice against
the might of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna’s Mexican
army.
The fort in question was viewed, by many, as the key to Texas,
and the subsequent battles would eventually find Santa Anna signing
over Mexican rights to the State in exchange for his own life.
Hancock’s movie concerns itself with the days leading up
to the massacre, as well as the bloody aftermath, during which
General Sam Houston led his American troops in a devastating victory
to gain revenge for the Alamo, as well as independence for Texas.
But while there have been 13 or 14 films already on the subject
(including the 1960 version, starring John Wayne), this claims
to be the one which ‘merges the mythology with the new facts
that historians have learned about it’.
For Hancock, it is clearly a labour of love, a rich, visually
sumptuous affair, which brings out the hopelessness and heroism
of the situation, without ever overplaying the patriotism.
And therein may lie the reason for the film’s poor performance
at the US box office, given the war-weary nation’s reluctance
to continue to glorify their troops, or to be forced to watch
another of their nation’s military catastrophes.
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For while the victory was ultimately
to be American, the Alamo remains a dark hour in America’s
past - a hopeless slaughter of many innocents, which may just
as easily have been avoided.
Hancock’s movie deftly exposes the mistakes which led to
the massacre, flitting between the political manoeuvring of Dennis
Quaid’s General Houston, as he attempts to mount an army,
while the handful of men at the Alamo grimly hang on for survival.
It may occasionally feel episodic, but the growing sense of futility
is expertly captured in the words and looks of his stars, most
notably Billy Bob Thornton’s Davy Crockett, and Patrick
Wilson’s brash young Lt Col William Travis.
What’s more, their fate is allowed to unfold in a revisionist
style, which harks back to the flawed heroics of the character’s
who populated Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven.
Thornton’s Crockett, for instance, is a living hero haunted
by the misdeeds of a none too glorious past, while Jason Patric’s
consumption-riddled Jim Bowie also harbours his own demons, grimly
accepting his fate as something inevitable, and even deserved.
Both Patric and Thornton deliver compelling performances, which
serve to bolster the film whenever the pace starts to flag - it
is a little overlong at two hours and 15 minutes.
But Hancock also deserves credit for delivering some memorable
set pieces, not just in the battle scenes, but during the quieter
exchanges, too - particularly when Crockett is seen to fiddle
in mock torment to his Mexican opposition.
If there is a major fault to be found, it’s that The Alamo
may lack the overall emotional impact one might have expected,
given the magnitude of the sacrifices, or that it may be one war
movie too many at the moment, but then there are still some rousing
moments, and the film does emerge victorious from most of its
shortcomings.
Hancock certainly did not deserve the apathy shown by US audiences,
and it would be a tragedy if the same fate were to befall the
film here.
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