Good story, Not enough for a whole film

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

I will preface this review by saying that I have only been able to get though the entirety of Dances With Wolves twice. The original cinema version and the extended Directors Cut. The latter being only 3 hours while the DC is nearly 4 hours long. The DC is the must see version as it was with Avatar, so much more is put into context with the DC over the cinema release.Kevin Costner is one of my favourite actors and I didn't know he was the Director until after I had watched it the first time.Kevin Costner plays the main character, John Dunbar who at the beginning of the movie is about to get his foot amputated. This he objects to and after struggling to get his boot back on, gets on a horse, and charges at the enemy, trying to commit suicide. He fails in his attempts, but helps turn the tide of the battle for the Union soldiers. This gets him in favour with his superior officers and when he asks for a transfer out to the West he is assigned an abandoned prairie post.This is where the movie really starts and ends.Many would find this movie rather boring in places but these have to be endured and overcome or you will miss out on the really good stuff. A wonderful movie that can be watched more than once with ease, even though it is nearly 4 hours long if watching the only version worth watching.

What makes this movie work is the story-telling aspect of it where the viewer can easily identify with and even insert themselves and wonder if they would or could do the same thing they are watching onscreen should it be them on this journey. The movie is presented as an adventure but not planned out but instead lived. That's the magic! Who wouldn't want to enter into lifes marrow and eat deeply from it. That is what takes place here and it also includes the reality or consequences better known as the price to paid for this experience. Costner pulls it off so much so that he proved everyone in Hollywood wrong and himself, talents, skills and abilities right. Richly deserved too. The movie holds to the test of time and has memorable scenes making it easy to watch several times and still capture the charm, mystery and drama to come. Here's some fun for you: Give yourself a name while watching this movie as they do in this movie to everyone. What will yours be? Mine? Eats with gusto because I like eating while watching a good movie. Get ready to....

1864. Lt John Dunbar (Kevin Costner) of the Union Army distinguishes himself in battle and as a reward is offered any post he likes. He chooses to go out west and is posted to Fort Hays in Kansas. From there he is ordered to Fort Sedgewick, the remotest outpost in the region. He finds it deserted and through a series of unfortunate circumstances he is stranded at the fort with nobody knowing that he is alone there, or even there. He meets his neighbours, the local Sioux tribe, and slowly gains their respect and friendship...Well-intentioned but badly executed. After all the westerns showing Native Americans to be nothing but savages, a movie humanizing the Native Americans was due. Dances With Wolves may be one of the first movies to have a balanced approach in that regard.However, that's where anything positive about this movie ends. The actual execution is quite bad. Director Kevin Costner turns what should have been a profound 2-hour journey into a 3-hour ordeal. Every scene is drawn out to the maximum and many scenes are there as padding making the move slow, dull and overly long. As director he also favours long, drawn-out close-ups of the lead actor, who happens to be himself. Seems incredibly self-indulgent, slowing the movie down further and detracting from the plot.Moreover, the whole tone is so preachy, moralising and pretentious. Turns what should have been a natural lesson to audiences into a soap-boxing sermon.Undeservedly won the 1991 Best Picture Oscar. How this won over Goodfellas I don't know. Might be the Academy's dislike for Martin Scorsese or the fact that they tend to prefer preachy movies.

The opening scene in this film is gut wrenching. Men who have suffered on the Civil War battlefield, and having their limbs chopped off to save their lives (maybe). Kevin Costner's Dunbar is one of these and he takes off at the risk of his life before they can do this. In the process, he becomes a hero for risking his life in a charge (pretty much an accident because of random luck). He is given an opportunity to choose his next assignment and ends up on the central plains. He survives, living off what is there, and eventually meets up with Lakota tribesmen. What this movie tells us is the fact that the West is going to be gone; the Native Americans are going to be shoved aside. He is integrated into the tribe and finds there a white woman who was taken in when her parents died. He "becomes" a tribe member. This is a story about human beings and their spirit and gets away from the clichés of the Western movie. Costner is fantastic in his role.