MovieChat Forums > Ride with the Devil (1999) Discussion > Wow, what a bad movie

Wow, what a bad movie

posted 20 years ago by beezylsu
91 replies | jump to latest

This movie is slow paced, historically innacurate and teriible cast. Choosing between what is worse Jewell's acting or Toby's dry dialogue is like choosing which way you want to commit suicide. Instead of focusing on the war we are instead treated to bush-wacking in Bumscrew, Missouri. The editing is as bad as a snuff film. If you are thinking of watching this movie do yourself a favor and stay home and watch home videos of your drunk uncle groping your cousin at the family wedding.

[–] rglasby 15 years ago

This movie is slow paced, historically innacurate and teriible cast.

Yes it's slow paced. No more historically innacurate than say "Saving Private Ryan" or "Glory" (movies generally regarded as good) and pretty well cast I thought.

Choosing between what is worse Jewell's acting or Toby's dry dialogue is like choosing which way you want to commit suicide.

How long did it take you to come up with that one?

Instead of focusing on the war we are instead treated to bush-wacking in Bumscrew, Missouri. The editing is as bad as a snuff film. If you are thinking of watching this movie do yourself a favor and stay home and watch home videos...

It's not a war movie sonny - true it's set during the war but it's no more a war movie than say "Cold Mountain" is or "Shenandoah" is.

"Bad editing" what do you mean? Can you give an example and have you actually seen a snuff film?

Have you seen Transformers 2? I'm sure you would like it better.
Or maybe one of the Spider-Man movies?

[–] pkopperr 15 years ago

I agree wholeheartedly with the title of your post, beezylsu. This movie had a bad screenplay, bad casting, bad acting, bad direction, and bad character development. Aside from all that badness, just the idea of presenting a major motion picture from such a small, un-heralded viewpoint in the Civil War is bold and admirable. Imagine its competition: An epic thriller in Ronald Maxwell's GETTYSBURG and Roland Emmerich's THE PATRIOT. Ang Lee had no idea who he was up against. It's unfortunate that a better story was not woven which would have attracted a better director and quality actors. So, the initial and ultimate fault lies with James Schamus for a poorly adapted screenplay.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] chailey 15 years ago

I agree that the pacing was slow, but the period detail seemed pretty accurate, at least as far as the "feel" of the piece. I think that the meandering story may have bothered some people. As far as Daniel Holt goes, he wasn't (in his mind) fighting for slavery, but to stay close to his "friend" who had freed him. There were individual black southerners with rebel forces for a variety of reasons. It's refreshing to see a Civil War film that makes both sides look pretty bad. So many films focus (understandably) on the eastern theater, but there's plenty of stories to tell that took place elsewhere. One of the big results of all of that bushwhacking was the formation of the James and Younger gangs, amongst others, that committed a trail of robberies and murders long after the war was over. Didn't realize that the breakfast scene in Lawrence really took place. Must look it up...

[–] SeisCinemaSeis 15 years ago

'Ride with the Devil' is not a complete loss, but without any doubt it's the lesser work from one of my favorite contemporary directors. In fact I prefer even Ang Lee's 'Hulk', that is just an average comic-book flick.
I am far from being an expert on that episode of the yank history (Civil War), therefore I don't know how accurate is this film. Having said that, RWTD is by far the dullest work from the director of such gems like 'Eat Drink Man Woman', 'The Wedding Banquet', 'Sense and Sensibility', 'Brokeback Mountain', 'Lust Caution', etc.

Being fair with Ang Lee, every director have shot a stinker at least once. Even the greatest ones like Kurosawa, Buñuel, Fellini, Kieslowski or Hitchcock.

[–] jrogersdal 14 years ago

I enjoyed the movie.

[–] bluesguy 14 years ago

Disagree 100%. TROLL alert on this thread starter!

[–] canuckteach 14 years ago

I liked the dialogue - every line was delivered with wording completely different from the clichéd garbage we expect. reminded me of the Coen Brothers' work, or the Joss Wheedon scripts for the Firefly series. once you've heard this stuff, you can't go back to the drivel generated by screenplay software.

:-) canuckteach (--:

[–] mjp36 14 years ago

How the hell would the OP know what the editing of a snuff film is like?

Arthur

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] johndeckbose 11 years ago

I love this film as well. Ang Lee is a genius but his work is not for everyone.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] Ithilfaen 12 years ago

Typical Ang Lee movie. He takes "slow paced" to a new level of nothingness. I must say though that the cast of useless pretty boys and celebs was a new thing for him. Thankfully the movie tanked enough that he never did it again and wasted good actors instead.

For every lie I unlearn I learn something new - Ani Difranco