(Review originally written at 12 July 2003)
The movie mostly consists out of over dramatized moments, but between those over dramatized moments there are also some real emotional scene's that do work which makes the movie very uneven.
The cast is full with stars. Most of them were already famous at the time, others were not (such as Elijah Wood and Dougray Scott) but the amount of stars isn't an overkill (such as is the case in A Bridge too Far). However, most of the characters are not interesting enough and it makes me wonder why we are following them throughout the movie. Most of the dozens of story lines seems to come straight out of a soap series. Maybe the movie would have been better to watch if the story had focused on others and lesser characters. Another thing that disturbs me is that almost none of the characters are busy with surviving, all they seem to care about are their personal problems and feelings, surviving is not important. Some of those scene's work but most of them don't.
The cast gives overall excellent performances. I'll especially mention Robert Duvall.
Another thing that deserves to be mentioned is the music by James Horner. Even though most of it is a copy from his older work (what else is new...), it fits the movie well.
Perhaps if you like soaps you'll appreciate this movie better then I do.
6/10
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