Review the Alamo!

Been reading various reviews of The Alamo (2004) after watching it last weekend on a Netflix-supplied DVD. I liked the movie, despite some weaknesses. It made a stab at historic accuracy, and while that really isn’t something that movies do very well, or even should most of the time, this movie did a creditable job. Which probably harmed its prospects at the box office—it helps to know the back-story to the event, something you might not expect from teenage moviegoers.

Adult critics, on the other hand, ought to be at least passingly familiar with the story, and after reading about a dozen reviews, it’s clear that all too many aren’t. Some even seemed to be bothered by the Texans actually winning the war later at San Jacinto, as if it were a too-pat cinematic contrivance rather than, say, historic fact. Others impugned the motives of the filmmakers in depicting Santa Ana as a tyrant, as if history has no examples of vain, incompetent, murderous dictators of his ilk: too over the top, ladies and gentlemen! A mere cartoon.

But I’m not going to get overwrought about bad movie criticism. You could spend all day every day fulminating about that, if you wanted, and to no purpose. Still, it’s sometimes interesting to read reviews, and I’ve found that the best time to them is after seeing the movie.