Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
1/4
Mormon mayhem
goodfellamike - wrote on 09/12/2008
A deplorable attempt to add insight or emotion to the devastating events surrounding the Mountain Meadows Massacre; it paints its Mormons as surprisingly evil, bloodthirsty renegades and its Christians as holy innocents with rosy complexions; this is more anti-Mormon than anything, which is alright by me, but it has no motivation behind its facts and to add insult to injury incorporates a sugary-sweet romance between teenagers of each sect to add a painful romantic edge to the mayhem. Terence Stamp makes Brigham Young into a tyrannical enigma, Jon Voight is embarrassed to no end, and the teens overdo the charm, bloodlust and cliches to epic proportions. Surely a more accurate depiction could have been made, but it sacrifices believability and sympathy for common genre tactics. …
Rating of
3/4
Problems With Pacing But Has an Emotional Core
Franz Patrick - wrote on 02/23/2008
I decided to ignore the historical facts and just absorb the emotional core that this film has to offer long before I started the movie. And I'm glad I did because this is a deeply affecting film. It has something to say about religious fanatics that hide behind the word of God to justify their own means. Even though this was based on events about a hundred years ago, it's still very relevant in today's world. The main issue I have with it is its really slow beginning. I mean, the bit about the horse was somewhat unnecessary and obvious. Nonetheless, when things got going about an hour and ten minutes into the film, it was poignant and dramatic. I just wished that the pacing was a bit better. All the actors did a really good job such as the romantic Trent Ford and the menacing Jon Voight.
