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Alamo, The


5.7

based on 38 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 35 votes
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FILM:

The Rookie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sustained intense battle sequences

Starring Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton, Jason Patric, Patrick Wilson, Emilio Echevarría, Jordi Mollà, Laura Clifton, Leon Rippy, and Kevin Page

The dramatic true story of one of the most momentous battles in American history, this is the tale of a handful of men who stood up for their passion and ideals against an overwhelming force. (Touchstone Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Adventure \| Drama \| War
WRITTEN BY:	Leslie Bohem Stephen Gaghan John Lee Hancock
DIRECTED BY:	John Lee Hancock
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: September 28, 2004 Video: September 28, 2004 Theatrical: April 9, 2004
RUNNING TIME:	137 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It's a well-crafted, intelligent, no-nonsense western epic that zips us through the famous siege and the birth of Texas with style, verve and impressive historical accuracy.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It somehow succeeds in taking those pop-culture brand names like Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie and giving them human form.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Alamo buffs will be delighted, and everyone else will be treated to something that feels like Old Hollywood crossed with new sensibilities.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Thoughtful and complex.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Its egotistical, wishy-washy and otherwise flawed protagonists are no less heroic because they look -- and act -- like you and me. On the contrary, they are more so.

Time Richard Corliss

Politics aside, this is a handsome film with orange skies to die for, or under, and a lovely score by Carter Burwell. The picture has some ponderous and snooze-worthy stretches, but it attains a certain melancholic grandeur, with the actors and crew fighting as desperately as Crockett and Bowie to make the best of a fated adventure.

USA Today Mike Clark

Thornton is excellent and now seems genetically incapable of being anything less than great in any role he takes.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Except for a handful of scenes, Hancock's film isn't good enough to be memorable. Neither is it bad enough to be entirely forgettable. It's just one of those compromised movies that makes one look forward to the director's cut.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The real struggle in The Alamo is between historic revisionism and Hollywood notions of sacrifice, and it's not much of a contest: Hollywood wins, as it did in John Wayne's sprawling, factually spurious 1960 film.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

The result is something that feels very much like an overachieving made-for-TV movie--a history lesson dolled up like an action movie, with the action relegated to the final third, and even then, the battle is over before it really begins.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

A respectable and at times an exciting film that should appeal to males of all ages, history buffs and -- yes, it's inevitable -- patriots.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Refreshingly revisionist in the sense that it takes a relatively clear-eyed view of the messy lives and equivocal circumstances of many of the key participants.

Film Threat Rick Kisonak

While the massacre is a wall-shaking and effective bit of high decibel drama, some of the movie's best moments come during the Texans' long brave wait for almost certain death.

Portland Oregonian Karen Karbo

Hancock's direction isn't flashy, and the pacing is a little curious...Still, he has the quiet chutzpah to suggest that a man can be both flawed and heroic, cowardly in his personal life and noble in his public one.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Never harmonizes into a cinematic experience any more resonant than the average, manly, why-we-fight pic, or coalesces into a stirring cry for freedom.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Thornton lends gravity, focus and humor that are otherwise in short supply in this serious-minded but meandering, talky and action-deficient epic.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Tries to be all things to all people and winds up a tedious muddle.

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

Pinned down and smelling death, the men grow into fully realized human beings, which makes for some fine performances, but doesn't exactly propel this epic, richly detailed film forward. The battle, when it finally comes, is brief, admirably non-gory and rather dull.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

A professionally made movie, just not an essential one. There's little fresh or provocative here, and if you can't be shaken by this story, why bother?

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The good news first: The Alamo is probably the most historically accurate depiction yet to reach the screen of the famous siege. The bad news is that "historically accurate" does not necessarily translate into "dramatically successful."

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Turns into an edited-for-TV version of Sam Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch"--flat, bloodless, and utterly bereft of period grit.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

It’s The Alamo, all right, but will anyone want to remember it?

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Rousing? Sort of. Never before, one feels, have so few given so much for so much real estate.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Thank goodness for Davy Crockett; without him, the Alamo could have proven the blandest heroic siege in movie history.

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

The brave men who fought and perished at the Alamo believed fervently in their cause. For The Alamo to work, the audience must believe as well. That never really happens.

Newsweek David Ansen

Along the way, not just the storytelling but the original intention has gotten muddled. You leave The Alamo uncertain of what you're meant to feel: is this a celebration of patriotic sacrifice or an illustration of war's futility?

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

Deserves credit for beautiful sets and the obvious care that went into reconstructing the old town of San Antonio de Bexar, as well as for Thornton’s performance. Unfortunately, the stultifying dialogue and lack of real tension sink the film.

Slate David Edelstein

Thanks to Hancock's evasive storytelling, it's never clear why Houston moved so slowly or why so few Texians came to the Alamo's aid. The middle of the movie is pokey and unfocused--and, given the circumstances, bizarrely lacking in urgency.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

As directed by John Lee Hancock, it's dull, talky, and sometimes maudlin.

Empire Will Lawrence

In spite of two great performances, this is a muddled affair.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A misshapen semi-spectacle that seems to be simulating an epic, and getting away with it only occasionally.

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

Driven by different agendas, history and movies often tell two irreconcilable stories, which is why, despite some glints of talent, Hancock has given us yet another film and another Alamo to forget.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Thornton's performance is lost in a film that is more of a schematic success than a dramatic one.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

As Disney-fied as "Pinocchio," barely challenging the images Americans have treasured for 150 years.

Premiere Peter Debruge

The studio wimped out, and the result is a lesser production on every level: talent, script, content, and purpose.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

These storied 13 days feel like the Hundred Years War.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

There is so much that is wrong with The Alamo that it is easier to begin with what the movie gets right: Davy Crockett. As played by Billy Bob Thornton.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

In short, it's dull, derivative, and as lifelike as a heap of historical figurines. Few will remember this Alamo for long.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.7 (out of 10) based on 35 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Pat S. gave it a1:
Worthless and weak, needed the original director (Ron Howard) and his cast of Gibson as Crockett and Crowe as Houston. To hell with"authenticity"-- vigor, gusto and glorious storytelling is what the real heroes (and audiences) deserve once and for all.

Louis's brother gave it a6:
Very good historical background, but needs more action.

David M. gave it a9:
Not as bad as critics make it out to be I have watched it 4 times and it gets me every time of what courage was shown by the defenders of this run down mission. I rate this among the best true story films ever made.

Wayne T. gave it a10:
Brilliant!!!

Charles W. gave it a9:
Excellent movie, exciting footage, excellent cast.

Chuck B. gave it an8:
More historically accurate but not as entertaining as Duke's film. Choppy due to last minute editing. Needs to be seen as intended. More pre Alamo & development of characters needed. Very good as presented, though.

Daniel E. gave it a10:
There’s not enough action for attention spans bred on Sesame Street and MTV, but for thoughtful adults there is plenty to enjoy here. Texians (American and European immigrants as well as native Tejanos) are fighting for what was promised and then taken away, while the Mexican government is trying to reign in what they consider to be ingrates and pirates. Principal characters are portrayed in a mature fashion as never before attempted, resulting in flawed humans who manage to emerge in a heroic light, even in this age of mass cynicism. Where’s the Director’s Cut?