Cold Mountain

Name: Cold Mountain
Genre: Drama, Romance, War
Released: December 25, 2003
Duration: 154 min
Rating: 73
Cast: Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renée Zellweger

2003

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 185 Ratings

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5.8

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5.8	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 185 Ratings

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Cold Mountain

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Movie Details & Credits

Miramax Films | Release Date: December 25, 2003 | R

Starring: Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renée Zellweger

Summary: Based on one of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory, Cold Mountain sets off on a true American odyssey through a time that saw some of the greatest ferocity -- and heroism -- the nation has ever known. (Miramax)

Director: Anthony Minghella

Genre(s): Drama, Romance, War

Rating: R

Runtime: 154 min

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Critic Reviews

100

David Ansen

As he did in “The English Patient,” Minghella artfully weds movie-movie romanticism with a dark historical vision. The man knows how to cast a spell. Read full review

Kirk Honeycutt

A somber, often downbeat depiction of human savagery and treachery as well as of human kindness. Writer-director Anthony Minghella has meticulously crafted an intimate epic. Read full review

Peter Travers

The specter of war haunts Cold Mountain, but you remember it for the heat of its romantic yearning and the mysteries that wrap themselves around you until you're lost in another world. Read full review

Rick Groen

All the signs pointed to a major movie achievement...And it does -- sometimes, and dazzlingly so. But the dazzle doesn't add up to the sustained act of brilliance I'd been expecting. Read full review

David Edelstein

Good, sometimes thrilling, but it's less a war epic than an evocative romantic melodrama with a patchy first hour. Read full review

Shawn Levy

A handsome work of impressive sweep dotted with fine performances. It offers a few fine moments of wit, fear and emotional intimacy. But it rarely pulses with vital life. Read full review

Michael Sragow

The result is a flabby, episodic phantasmagoria. Read full review

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User Reviews

InfamousPrince

Jan 7, 2011

You can talk about this movie whatever you want, but it will not change the fact that it is excellent. The cast is fantastic, just like the story. If you look at other films that came out that year, and see that half of them are really bad, this movie is fantastic.

5 of 5 users found this helpful50

GlennM.

Sep 1, 2005

Wow i cant believe the bad user reviews. awsome supporting roles by natalie portman and jack white, jude law was good too but the writing is kind of bad.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

beingryanjude

Aug 24, 2014

Absolutely flawless. Anthony Minghella's finest work. Cold Mountain is an often grim look at romance during the Civil War. Rarely does a proper romance fulfill our needs for emotion, excitement and comic relief.

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

DawdlingPoet

Nov 22, 2021

This is a historical period drama with obviously war and adventure elements to it. It covers themes including civil war and the walking wounded, friendships, the countryside or rural life in general and loneliness, among others.

I quite enjoyed this film, as it features some relativelyThis is a historical period drama with obviously war and adventure elements to it. It covers themes including civil war and the walking wounded, friendships, the countryside or rural life in general and loneliness, among others.

I quite enjoyed this film, as it features some relatively feisty, well thought out characters. There is a good use of background music, a quite unsettling, mildly sinister or creepy slow classical type of music which is quite quiet and not at all over powering or over bearing, not making the dialogue hard to follow, thankfully. The film did seem quite atmospheric due to the good use of music and it doesn't shy away from depicting some relatively gruesome aspects of war at times as well. I found myself feeling gripped to the TV set, to see what became of certain soldiers, how people managed to pull themselves out of very difficult, harrowing situations. Of course its easy to see why this could be regarded as a very grim film but yet it didn't feel entirely grim as such. There is an element of optimism about it - a sense of hope present, although its hard to explain this fully in such a review. Suffce to say, there are different scenes with different tones and some are a lot lighter than others. I suppose you could say there's an irony showcased in terms of the beauty of the surrounding mountainous/rural nature surrounding somewhat gory, violent acts.

I thought the film was well cast, with Nicole Kidman portraying Ada Monroe, a well to do lady, looking for people to help tend her land. While she appears a little distant, she seems very much like a good person at heart. Meanwhile, Jude Law plays Inman, a regular joe type who finds himself somewhat lost in the middle of the war and Renee Zellweger plays Ruby Thewes, a distinctly assertive, quick witted independent type. Ruby is probably the most memorable character - certainly either her or Ada. Also present in the cast are the late Philip Seymore Hoffman as Reverand Veasey, Giovanni Ribisi as Junior and Donald Sutherland as Reverend Monroe.

I liked some of the landscape shots used, to give us a decent overview of the 'lie of the land' you could say. It doesn't really feature especially breathtaking cinematography as such, I suppose, if your very critical of such things but I did like the setting and there were some good camera angles used, in some scenes, to highlight the landscape, such as showing the streams flowing downhill, with characters hiding or moving slowly from one part of land to another.

Content wise, the film features sex scenes with nudity and implied rape, violence, with bloody injuries and war related aggression depicted, some strong language and in general, the film is relatively frightening due to the war theme running throughout. Due to this, it has been given a 15 rating.

As far as criticisms are concerned, there's relatively little to say. It is quite a long watch, at around the two and a half hour mark and as such it would have put me off watching it until recently but I have seen a fair number of long films over the last 6-12 months and as there's less decent TV shows on, I find myself finding time to watch more longer films. If your not especially keen on character driven dramas and hope for pure action to keep you gripped to your seat throughout then this may not be ideal for you, as while there are scenes of war, the majority of the film features a small number of characters reflecting on things, being somewhat philosophical at times and thus it isn't jam packed with special effects, chases and attacks. Both of these things may be seen as a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what you like, of course. Perhaps it could have featured some slightly better cinematography? maybe but I don't feel I can really mark it badly due to any of that as such. It felt like quite a warm film in a sense, which I can only presume comes down to the good characterisation.

Yes I'd recommend this film, as I felt it was well cast, it is quite atmospheric and covers good themes. It is bloody and may be a little frightening or upsetting to watch at times but if you don't mind a bit of violence, then its worth checking out, especially if your a fan of the cast (Nicole Kidman, Jude Law and Renee Zellweger).… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

PatFlores2003

Apr 29, 2022

The film shows you how war can cause the consequences of people, and then everything ends badly for the protagonists and when you see the serious film how the unjust win and the innocent suffer. But in the end everything is going to happen if they put their great efforts so that things goThe film shows you how war can cause the consequences of people, and then everything ends badly for the protagonists and when you see the serious film how the unjust win and the innocent suffer. But in the end everything is going to happen if they put their great efforts so that things go well and thus good people are those who help others and that is why this film gave me something good. This movie is totally a masterpiece!!! The truth is that the film catches you and shows you how the bad guy triumphs and the innocent (good people) die, but at the end of the film it shows you how people change for the good of others, because it is a change of heart to help to the neighbor and everything can change for the community. There are only two kinds of people in the world, good and evil. But in the end, with the help of others, everything will work out for everyone.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

amheretojudge

Apr 17, 2018

the land will not heal..

Cold Mountain A typical love story set in a war zone that wanders onto the same lash and delivers it convincingly but unfortunately its the same meal we have been having for the course of its runtime. Anthony Minghella; also the director of The English Patient, isthe land will not heal..

Cold Mountain

A typical love story set in a war zone that wanders onto the same lash and delivers it convincingly but unfortunately its the same meal we have been having for the course of its runtime. Anthony Minghella; also the director of The English Patient, is back with a similar project no matter how much admirable, in the end it all seems been-here-done-that. The feature scores majestically on performance level where Nicole Kidman, Jude Law and Renee Zellweger are doing some of their career's best work. Cold Mountain; being a character driven feature, goes deep into it where the priority is set to project the bonding between the lead characters (Jude restraining himself from being seduced and Nicole suffering through loss was the perfect way to bind this parallel roles on screen) which is fulfilled utterly by the script.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

RodericR

Aug 17, 2009

You are without a doubt, the worst movie I have ever seen. TERRIBAD doesn't begin to describe this steaming pile of crap. It is epic all right, too bad it is epic bad. It may have deserved a 1 instead of a 0 due to the historical scenes, and I will probably use them as documentary-type You are without a doubt, the worst movie I have ever seen. TERRIBAD doesn't begin to describe this steaming pile of crap. It is epic all right, too bad it is epic bad. It may have deserved a 1 instead of a 0 due to the historical scenes, and I will probably use them as documentary-type footage in my 6th grade social studies class. However, the movie itself was so ungodly terrible, its worth a negative score.… Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful

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68	#68 Best Movie of 2003
59	#59 Most Discussed Movie of 2003
94	#94 Most Shared Movie of 2003