MOVIE REVIE: You probably won’t remember this ‘Alamo’
Grade: B-
I was hoping “The Alamo” would be good. I was looking forward to seeing Dennis Quaid again. I’d been a fan of his for more than 15 years, ever since seeing him play Gordo Cooper in “The Right Stuff,” then as Tuck in “Innerspace.” (The latter film also triggered a long and painful crush on Meg Ryan that terminated brutally with the 2001 film “Kate and Leopold.”)
“The Alamo” isn’t a horrible movie. It has its moments, and the final battle sequences bring a lot of energy and emotion. It’s just that overall, the movie feels like it’s missing something, like it wanted to be a big movie, but only half of the components showed up.
“The Alamo” recounts the historic siege and battle that highlighted Texas’ struggle for independence, but you only get a vague sense of that from watching the movie itself. Without the additional historic knowledge most people will bring to the theater, others might be left wondering what all of the fighting is about. For a historic event that has deep-rooted passions on both sides, the movie doesn’t do much more than set up both armies on opposing sides and yell, “Go!”
This is mighty ironic, since it takes an hour and 45 minutes to get to the big battle itself. Director John Lee Hancock spends this time getting the audience acquainted with heroic participants like Jim Bowie (Jason Patric) and Davy Crockett (Billy Bob Thornton). It’s not a bad idea, but it does slow things down too much.
Quaid plays Sam Houston, who wasn’t at the Alamo himself, but later defeated Mexican military leader Santa Anna and won Texan independence. Footage of this later battle is what is used to end the film, since it would be tough to end on a high note with a battle that sees everyone dead.
Hancock tries to develop a number of subplots to fill out the story, but none is more enjoyable than watching Billy Bob Thornton play a man widely regarded as a “legend in his own time,” Davy Crockett. Thornton plays Crockett as an appealing character who struggles with the fame and immortality that others have built up around him. When he arrives at the remote Texan outpost, the last thing he expects is to have to defend it against an army of thousands. He’s also one of the few people who seems to understand that the enemy is human as well. The martyrdom of this hero is more tragic than anything else the film tries to establish.
Emilio Echevarria plays Santa Anna with a sinister toothy grin and a hideous mean streak. There is certainly no effort to generate sympathy for this bad guy. Crockett may see the humanity in Santa Anna’s army, but “The Alamo” sees Santa Anna himself as evil incarnate.
The one thing I can say for “The Alamo” is that it doesn’t fall into the “typical historical epic” category that is populated by films like “Gladiator,” “Braveheart,” and “The Patriot.” While they have their strong points, all of these movies have the same plot: Guy lives in historic setting, guy has member of family killed, guy spends rest of movie taking vengeance on people responsible for killing family member. “The Alamo” has a strong theme of vengeance to it, but it spares us the creative impotence of following this plot device slavishly.
As for “The Alamo,” it could have been better. But since this is the last review of the school year, I think I’d like to pass out a few awards to recognize some of the best material of the last nine months. And so, for the first and last time, here are the “Shatners”:
Best Use of Christopher Walken: “The Rundown”
Best Use of a Song by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers: “School of Rock”
Best Trilogy Since the Original “Star Wars”: “The Lord of the Rings”
Best Reason to Keep Faith in the Comedy Genre (also known as the “Best Bagpipe Interpretation of a Simon and Garfunkel Classic” award): “Intolerable Cruelty”
Best Reason to be Grateful for Tim Burton: “Big Fish”
Best Movie Reviewed Two Weeks Before its Release: “Win a Date with Tad Hamilton.”
Best Second-Best Performance Ever for Kurt Russell: “Miracle”
Best Performance by One of Jane Fonda’s Kids: “Barbershop II.”
Best Scene in a Bathroom with Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman: “Runaway Jury”
Live long and prosper, kiddies.
Joshua Terry is a graduate student in the American studies program. Contact him at jterry@english.usu.edu.