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Issue date: 4/14/04 Section: Entertainment

"The Alamo" is at this point one of the biggest movie events of the year. Having been pushed back since about December, many have been waiting impatiently for this film.

With several well done war films in the past ten years, many were hoping to hoist this one up alongside the likes of "Braveheart", "Saving Private Ryan", "Gladiator" and "Rob Roy." While it does entertain, it does not measure up to the aforementioned epics.

The film opens in 1835 and places several classic American heroes at the siege of the Alamo against the Santa Anna's Mexican army. Legends Davy Crocket and Jim Bowie along with a small but determined group of Texans hold up inside the fort against great odds. The two men struggle to maintain morale and live up to their own impossible legends.

We all know what happened in the end. The Alamo was taken and Texas (though not officially a state at the time) was invaded by Santa Anna's army. However, the film does not end there. General Sam Houston, who waited too long to send reinforcements to the Alamo, retreats until he can meet Santa Anna's army on favorable ground.

Staring in this period piece are notably, Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett, Jason Patric as Jim Bowie, and Dennis Quaid as Sam Houston.

Billy Bob Thornton stands out a bit more from his peers as the cheerful, but troubled Crockett. His dialogue is filled with witty remarks which bring some much needed levity to the long scenes. He dances, he plays violin, he makes fun of his own legend and inspires men.

The only man Crockett seems to fully level with is Jim Bowie, also a legend in his own right. The two trade the honest portions of the "did you really?" stories and share a quiet graveness of their situation. Bowie is also afflicted with consumption and is confined to a bedfor more than half the time, which limits the talented Patric's abilities.

The film is quite long and slow in portions; enough that the lady next to me woke herself up with her own snoring. It is a siege but I don't think the audience should feel like they are captives as well. The action sequences were done pretty well and kept within acceptable PG-13 limits- lots of smoke and fire, very little blood. The eventual attack of Houston's army after the fall of the Alamo keeps you from leaving the theatre with a total sense of loss, but don't seem to vindicate its heroes.

It's a fairly good flick, but not one for the ages. 6.5/10

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