Doesn't work despite Thornton's top performance.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 9, 2010

| Original Score: B+ | Oct 29, 2008

Laborious mush.

| May 3, 2005

In spite of two great performances, this is a muddled affair.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 4, 2004

Sluggish, talky and unfocused, its downbeat revisionism robbing its historical figures of the iconic status that would have made their story worth retelling.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 24, 2004

Arriving in theaters today, the resulting $100-million dollar motion picture is a flawed, sprawling examination of the Mexican-American conflict that raises far more questions than it answers.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 17, 2004

It's dull, talky, and sometimes maudlin.

Full Review | Apr 13, 2004

Looks and feels like the kind of 16mm filmstrip once projected in grade-school history classes, right down to the corny dialogue and hammy acting.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Apr 13, 2004

Thanks to the skills of director and co-screenwriter John Lee Hancock and a deep cast of reliable veterans, this is an authentic and rousing version of the most famous battle in Texas history.

Full Review | Apr 12, 2004

The film lacks the emotional, doomed punch for which it's so clearly striving.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Apr 11, 2004

Absorbing yet ever-so-slightly jaundiced retelling.

Full Review | Apr 9, 2004

With the notable exception of Thornton's Crockett, none of these characters engages you.

Full Review | Apr 9, 2004

Although handsomely mounted, and boasting some historically immaculate dressing and impressive battle sequences, it's a movie that ultimately can't convincingly get behind the idea of sacrifice.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 9, 2004

It may be history, but it's too meticulous to be believable.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 9, 2004

Alamo buffs will be delighted, and everyone else will be treated to something that feels like Old Hollywood crossed with new sensibilities.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 9, 2004

It offers no great insights into the majority of its characters or the politics of the time; it is not the proudest or most shameful moment for any member of its cast; and it is neither overly long or dumbly abrupt. It's simply what it is.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Apr 9, 2004

A deeply compromised film, if not a broken one.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 9, 2004

A valiant but losing effort.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 9, 2004

Despite Thornton's yeoman efforts and a remarkable 52-acre set, you're more apt to forget The Alamo than to remember it.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 9, 2004

An ambitious mix of history lesson, politically correct speculation, character sketches of American icons and pretty scenery, but it winds up without much of a point of view.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 9, 2004