Yar, you be here: Cold Mountain > Customer Reviews

Cold Mountain Customer Reviews (7 - 9 of 87 Reviews)

Could have been better, but message of film rings forth
The Cons:
Perhaps the biggest problem with this film: editing. This film could have been about at least a half an hour less in duration. The first forty to fifty minutes of the movie are a bit lethargic and not essential in terms of building the relationship between Ada and Inman. I tend to concur with the reviewer who said that she contemplated turning it off during this time. Some of this time could have been better spent developing the two main characters. This lack of development is confounding considering that is the crux of the entire story. Their "love" seems to be a little wooden, put together like a quick science project, and you would think for a movie that is two and a half hours they could have done a more decent job intertwining this into Inman leaving for the war. Although the two lovers seem to be inspired by each other, there is nothing that suggests they should, considering they barely know each other. However, alas, the movie does improve.

The Pros:
The latter half of the film, which entails Inman's attempted return home and Ada's dealings with her homeland, definitely are worth the ride. Inman continually keeps his survival in tact with the sole thought of one day seeing Ada, and Ada, despite many of the townspeople's beliefs that Inman is dead, wants to hope that he will one day return to her. Ada does not know whether to belief in the sign that she sees in the well of Inman's return.

Renee Zellweger does a commendable job as Ruby. She brings a breath of fresh air to this movie, and comes just in time to the slow start. Not only this, but she really is the basis for Ada's character to gain strength in hopes of seeing her lost love come home. Ruby and Ada are complete opposites, and yet, by the end of the film, you realize how critical they were to one another's physical and mental survival.

Overall:
One of the more prevalent themes of the film is the importance of hope and faith in times of crisis. Every major character has to believe that things will improve at some point, and has to do this when something in their life has become a struggle. With Ruby it is her life with her father that she attempts to comes to terms with. As far as Ada and Inman, they must learn to go on living and existing despite the possibility of never seeing one another. The true testament asserted within the film is overcoming and enduring in life's trials.

Rating: 3 ½ stars

COLD AND DEPRESSING
I am a huge fan of Anthony Mingella's movies, I loved The Talented Mr. Riply and I liked The English Patient, though it was hella long, but this film was harder to like. The story is a good one and the book by Frazier is very good, but in its movie form it seems really depressing. I thought Kidman was very good and Zellweger was great, but I really did not like Law as Inman, he just did not register, it was hard to understand why Kidman longed for him so. The movie is extremely violent, in a Deliverance sort of way, the violence is real and disturbing, one scene in particular is just retching to watch, if you see this film you will know exactly what I am refering to, overall the quality of the film is very good and the cinematography is outstanding, it amazing how much Romania looks like North Carolina, I do recommend this film, but be forewarned it is depressing and hard to watch at times....enjoy.

Mo' money, mo' money, mo' money!
First of all, let me say that it would be extremely difficult to make a movie that would come anywhere close to doing justice to the novel. At least Hollywood this time was trying to make a movie out of an excellent novel-and that's quite a change from the norm. This movie basically was all about cashing in -kaching!- on the success of the novel. Let's go inside the mind of the Producer: "Mmmm...let's see...in order to make money on this movie we have to cast 'stars' in it, someone who has the reputation of bringing people into the movie theater." Thus we get Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, and Renee Zellweger. Law is the only one who had any right to be cast in the movie. Let's face it: Kidman is too good looking, and too old also. I'm sure Pond's cold cream has helped her to look younger than she is, but she still comes across as someone in her thirties. Geez, someone in their thirties in 1864 was soon to be a grandma. Renee Zellweger, though she does do a good job in the movie, is too good looking, too slim and ,yes, too old to play her character. In the novel her character was basically a "plain Jane" type of tomboy.Though he is probably too good looking, Jude Law at least is passable as Inman. I'm from N.C., and believe me all the women here do not look like Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger and Natalie Portman--nor do they where you live either. Even the "homely" one was Renee Zellweger!

If this movie had been made with actors who could more accurately portray the characters as they were in the novel this movie could have had some major potential. There are drawbacks to creating a "blockbuster movie." The movie wasn't even filmed in N. Carolina, not anywhere close to the real Cold Mountain--it was filmed in Romania (I think) of all places!

What a great film this could have been. I give the movie three stars basically because the major part of the story is so good, even they couldn't mess it up. It could have easily been a five if the following had happened: film it at Cold Mountain itself, get rid of the marquee stars (not having to pay the miscast Kidman and Zellweger could have saved enough to film it where it should have been filmed), put in more of the unique parts of the novel that made the story so original and nourishing for the reader (e.g., although Inman's time with the old lady was one of the best parts of the book, we just see her in passing.)
The nude scene in which Inman was captured was one of the most pointless such scenes I've ever seen.But,hey, it'a "blockbuster"
so somebody's gotta lose their shirt, ya' know!

If the producer had followed these suggestions he could have produced an excellent movie. But, hey, his intent wasn't to do that but to make mo' money, mo' money, mo' money. I just hope Frazier got a good bit of it, because he deserves it for seeing his excellent novel made into such a mediocre movie.

Do yourself a favor--at least read the book before you see this movie.

A note: I do own this dvd. I just thought the movie could have been so much better if the above suggestions had been implemented.

Previous Page

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

Next Page