Now I know the well known slogan is “Remember the Alamo,” but after viewing this film I can only suggest you skip it.
As nearly 200 Texans, men and women of all races, find themselves barricaded inside the walls of the Alamo trying to hold on to the idea of a big future for Texas, attempting to withstand the siege about to be set upon them by Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.
We all have heard the story, and there is a movie here, but with this movie it manages to take all the life out of the film and turn it into such a long and boring picture.
The movie is primarily focused on the three men inside the Alamo walls, Col. William Travis (Patrick Wilson), James Bowie (Jason Patric), and David Crockett (Billy Bob Thornton). Crockett’s reputation is well known to all the men around him and a story is built around Travis and Bowie, which ultimately becomes useless.
The other central character is Gen. Sam Houston played by Dennis Quaid who is most often seen drowning his sorrows in alcohol and giving a dirty snarl any time he can. His character is over-exaggerated and pretty much without any realistic emotion, despite his undying love for Texas and the thought of its prosperity.
The men inside of the Alamo held out for 13 days and the filmmakers did their best to make you wait just as long to get to the end result. With all the potential for this movie the majority of the battle scenes are simply guns firing and canons blasting, oh yeah and a nice violin solo to really put you to sleep. The Alamo is a perfect example of how the PG-13 rating has managed to turn potentially great movies into watered down versions for the masses.
Movies such as Braveheart have proved that violence can be used to portray emotion as much as scowls and angry talk, but in an effort to make as much money as possible so that everyone has an opportunity to snooze through this 2+ hour bore fest.
This movie boasts “You’ll Never Forget the Alamo,” but I already have, the movie at least.
