That was an excellent one.

Thanks for the memories!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Just simply a wonderful story of how average people defeated a dictator. For years I've felt badly for the people of Mexico, and how their future of land and resources was lost. But the Battle for the Alamo presents the case for why Santa Ana had to be defeated. I'm sure you've seen the 1960 version of this story with John Wayne, but this film is worth viewing as well. Colorful in so many respects. It was worth watching.

I just finished revisiting this film, and despite some lingering quarrels with Davy Crockett's cheesy death scene and Dennis Quaid's overheated portrayal of Sam Houston, this movie is a wonderfully emotional experience for me as a native Texan. The macho and occasionally corny 1960 version with John Wayne, Laurence Harvey and Richard Widmark is, in my opinion, far inferior to this film. John Lee Hancock did a brilliant job of portraying the haunting fears and nagging doubts that the doomed and selfless defenders surely felt when they faced the grim reality that they were surrounded and alone. He also tried to hew pretty closely to the historic facts while engaging in the inevitable amount of dramatic license required for a Hollywood feature. I cringed when I heard that Billy Bob Thornton was cast as Davy Crockett, but he was a very pleasant surprise. His twangy Southern accent was a perfect fit for the role. The other pleasant discovery was the Hispanic actor who played Juan Seguin. This well-known Texas history story passed into the realm of heroic legend long ago, and that makes it difficult to portray without disappointing lots of viewers and history buffs who have rigid expectations. I give full credit to native Texan Hancock for even taking it on. The final siege sequence is visually stunning, inspiring, overwhelming, and heartbreaking. And the coda at San Jacinto provides an emotional catharsis. Great music score as well. I wish Hancock had been better served by a couple of the main performances, but I remain a fan of this film.

As the Mexicans sends an army of thousands to take back Texas(which was rightfully theirs), The Alamo becomes one of the main battlegrounds, in spite of being difficult to defend and possessing too few troops - the Americans simply didn't think there was much of a risk. We focus on general Houston(Quaid, a smart, if at times overly aggressive, commander) who some consider obsessed, Bowie(Patric, doing much better than in Speed 2, the only other thing I've seen him in... a man resigned to his terminally ill state, who still won't stand for just anything), Travis(Wilson, a man who has to prove that he isn't just a pampered rich kid) and Crockett(Thornton, stealing the film - having a complicated relationship with the mythical status he enjoys).There are some positives to this. Every major character is a human being, no one is a cardboard cutout, and our protagonists are not flawless. We have themes of legend vs. reality, ambition vs. Family and lower class vs. educated. We can understand both sides, and this does admit some gruesome things the Americans did(and in general there are a ton of little details that feel real, and are there purely for that, whether they reflect well on "our guys" or not). When Spanish should be spoken, it is, and convincingly so. The production design is good, with high authenticity.It's apparently the most(I haven't watched the others) historically accurate account, however, it is also Disney-fied. There is Little tension, the actual battle comes in late and is short(and violence tends to be implied). It's talky, and comes off as a made-for-TV piece, not reaching the levels of epic that it's clearly going for. There is no one vision shining through, and we're left wondering what to feel. As such, the 2 hour, 3 minute running time sans credits(or 2 hours and 11 minutes with) at times really snail-paces by.The DVD comes with an English Audio descriptive language track, the featurette Return of the Legend: The Making of The Alamo(18 minutes long; I will review this on its own separate page here on the site), 5 minutes of fine deleted scenes(with optional director's commentary), a 4 and a half minute decent Set Tour and a King Arthur trailer. I recommend this only to those easily roused, and those looking for a summary of what happened in the form of a film. 6/10

When I first saw this on DVD, I thought instantly this would get an Oscar nomination, at least. The music is powerful enough to make you cry. This, I believe was Carter Burwell at his best. There are some scenes that made me cry like a baby. Especially before the battle, where the defenders are writing letters to their loved ones. Plus, the end part where it's just Crockett, and five others including Bowie (who was sick, dying in bead). The acting is great, especially Thorton's. Why critics hate this film is beyond me. With a powerful soundtrack, you can see the scenes from the movie in your head as it's playing. This, in my opinion, is the best film about The Alamo ever and there will be no more made because of how accurate this one is!