Producer Ted Turner's pet movie project is noble, earnest, and handsomely mounted -- but also stilted, lumbering, and interminably long-winded. General Lee (Duvall) drags out strategy sessions, ''Stonewall'' Jackson (Stephen Lang) breaks out in frequent prayer, a Yankee colonel (Daniels) pontificates on the evils of slavery, even a Dixie mother gets to speechify while sending her sons off to war. Occasionally, battles erupt: Men march, bullets fly, men fall. It's all so tragically boring.
EXTRAS The commentary featuring two Civil War experts is more useful (and interesting) as history lesson than as making-of info; three docs tiresomely discuss the film's authenticity and importance; further filler includes a video for the end-credit Bob Dylan song.
