The Conspirator

It took me a very long while to attempt an write a review on this movie. I am a great Civil War buff, and the topic of Lincoln assassination and subsequent trial made me impatient to watch this new work of art, supposedly, I watched it several times. So? The message is clear - the movie has not lived up to extremely high expectation that were laid on it. I must admit, Wright, Kline, McAvoy and others did a stammeringly great acting jobs there but that did not help save a very ploddy, slow, viscous, boring, unexciting, bloodless, soulless, painfully slow film. But that is not all. Mr, Redford has made yet another attempt to re-write history, thus making Suratt and other almost helpless victims in the hands of merciless Northern leaders like Andrew Johnson. The movie never hides the fact that it was designed to awake our sincere liking of such terrible killer as John Wilkes Booth and his kin. But, come on! Give me a break! If you wanted to show both sides with sympathy, you'd make it like great movie Gettysburg, not like you did it. So, the well-attempted plot, great acting, ill-shot scenes, ill-hidden pro-South sentiment. Sorry, a great beginning made a very poor ending.