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Cold Mountain Customer Reviews (67 - 69 of 87 Reviews)

Emotionally Cold Mountain
This story of one man's walk from Virginia to North Carolina in his attempt to return to the love that motivates him has - unsurprisingly - a somewhat rambling form. Somehow I think the rambling and episodic structure was probably better suited to a novel than to a mainstream Hollywood film.

In part "Cold Mountain" is based on Homer's Odyssey, with Jude Law as the Ulysses-like Inman, and Nicole Kidman's Ada Monroe as the Penelope who waits for him despite the attention of at least one highly unsuitable suitor.

The film's set before and during the American Civil War, and begins with a devastating battle in Petersburg, Virginia. Troops from the Northern Army mine the Southern front line. The resulting explosions demolish it to great effect, but all doesn't go according to plan, as the advancing Northern soldiers are caught in the crater made by their own explosions ... and mown down. That scene is writer / director Anthony Minghella's version of "Saving Private Ryan's" opening scene, and very much shows us that the movie isn't going to be about the glories of war.

"Cold Mountain" gets off to an excellent start, inter-cutting gritty battle scenes with Inman's memories of Ada, the woman he loves, and with whom he's shared little more than one hurried kiss. Ada is the daughter of Reverend Monroe, played by Donald Sutherland, and has received a fairly good education in Charleston. That means she hasn't learned how to do much of anything practical.

Inman, after suffering a bad neck wound, decides he is going to return to Ada whatever the cost, deserts the army, and begins his long trek back to North Carolina and Cold Mountain. Ada meanwhile is having to cope with the death of her father, the difficulty of surviving as a single woman, and the attentions of lecherous bad guy and home guardsman Teague, played by Ray Winstone. Her neighbours, including Sally Swanger (the excellent Kathy Baker) try to help her, but it becomes pretty clear she's not going to make it through the next winter without help, and that help turns up in the shape of the extremely practical and down to earth backwoods girl Ruby Thewes (Rene Zellwegger)

Although the film starts superbly, it gradually becomes disappointing. The grittiness of the beginning gives way to ever more Hollywood glamour as the movie goes on, particularly in the story of Kidman's Ada. Kidman gets prettier and prettier as times get harder and harder. Zellwegger comes on like Doris Day in "Annie Get Your Gun" or something out of "Oklahoma", and adds scrunched up funny faces to the mix. And the bad guys back at home turn into cardboard villains that might almost come from a spaghetti western, particularly the almost albino Bosie (Charlie Hunnam). And why are albinos always evil in movies?

Inman's story fares somewhat better. During his trek he encounters a variety of picaresque characters. There's a preacher (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) who is initially about to murder his pregnant black mistress when Inman stops him. Jena Malone plays a girl who operates a ferry boat that will allow them to escape their pursuers, if they pay her enough. Giovanni Ribisi is hillbilly Junior, who in another nod to the Odyssey, lives with a bevy of sex-starved siren-like women. Natalie Portman is Sara, a single mother who Inman sleeps beside and then has to rescue from the attention of marauding Southern soldiers. And there's a strange gipsy woman who - particularly given that much of the movie was shot in Romania - seems rather like a refugee from one of the old universal werewolf movies.

John Seale's cinematography captures the din of war, the stunning scenery of Romania, and the quieter interiors, well. And, visually the film is helped much by the production design of Dante Ferretti, although I wonder if sometimes that too isn't a little too pretty. There's some good music, although the best of it is performed within the film, old American hymns, and folk music such as "Wayfaring Stranger". There's even a song composed by Sting and sung by Alison Krauss, which works better than one might expect it to. Gabriel Yared's more thematic soundtrack music seems rather less memorable.

Ultimately, "Cold Mountain" is marred by several weaknesses, one of the worst is that in its conclusion it's something of a shaggy dog story. It also suffers, like some of Minghella's other films, from a strange emotional coldness: neither Jude Law nor Nicole Kidman touches us as much as they should. Often the emotions surrounding the cameo characters are far more intense, particularly those played by Nathalie Portman and Kathie Baker.

But this is nothing new for Minghella. In both "The English Patient" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley" you wanted to feel somewhat more emotional about the characters than you actually did. In his first film "Truly, Madly Deeply" director Anthony Minghella struck a wonderfully poignant emotional note. With the move to Hollywood his films to have become much more focussed on about surfaces or spectacle, and that's a pity.

Like "Legends of the Fall" Cold Mountain" is ultimately an attempt to transform a sweeping and often gritty historical novel into a movie that's just far more glamorous than it should be for its own good. It's an interesting movie, but not a wholly successful one.

Cold Mountain: Great Epic
This year has seen many films without hobbits try to make claims as great epics.Only Cold Mountain comes close in the epic department to that film about a ring. A movie that not ony is a great love story, but also a great war film. This film does not dare make war look pretty and shows the disenfranchised state of all the parties involved, especially the people of Cold Mountain. Jude Law and Nicole Kidman do a great job of making the audience believe in their love, despite the very short amount of time they share together. Every glance means something, as does every word these two characters speak. You understand why Jude Law's character would go on this odyssey to find his love and you believe in it and want it to happen. I also appreciated how the movie does not glamourize the war or make the soldiers noble and loyal heroes. The soldiers in this film may have once been hungry for war, but now realize that it won't solve anything and doesn't have a true cause worth fighting for. The film is well cast with many recognizable actors showing up in small parts and Law and Kidman both put in Oscar-nomination worthy performances, although neither deserves to win the award. The performance that does deserve to be recognized is Renee Zewellger as Ruby. She not only steals this movie, but makes a case for one of the greatest performances of the year period and maybe all time. It is a truly memorable performance and she does an excellent job displaying corage, strength, humility, determination, humor and resourcefulness. This movie is good without her, but becomes great due to her performance. She makes this film a must see for every one.

If the two leads only had more chemistry...
Jude Law is excellent in this film, and Nicole Kidman is good also. But they just do not click together. Their "passionate" scenes feel staged, and they are both such good actors, that most of the time it goes unnoticed. Rene Zellweger finally got her Oscar, having been passed over two years in a row for "Bridget Jone's Diary" and "Chicago." She lost the Oscar for "Chicago" to Nicole Kidman who won for "The Hours." To me, it seemed like sweet revenge to upstage a rival in every scene she has in this film. There is one other thing that recommends this film, and that is its splendid cinematography. Otherwise, the plotting feels very similar to another of Director Anthony Minghella's films, "The English Patient," only this story is set during the Civil War. Also, there are some obvious plot devices that had me shaking my head. One I remember is when Jude Law and Philip Seymor Hoffman are making their way through the wilderness when they just happen across a large, two-handled saw. Hmmmmm, I wonder if this item will come into play in a future scene? I didn't have to wait very long. There is also an over-abundance of nudity. Being a guy, this is a rare thing for me to complain about, but it just feels gratuitous here; like it's used more for shock-value than for any specific reason. Overall, this really isn't a bad film at all. Rene Zellweger shines, as does the cinematography, but all else is merely professional or sadly forgettable. Thank you.

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