A film of many excellences undermined by a flawed narrative.
Comment
01/21/04
Rate this Movie 
Cold Mountain (2003)
90
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work
Reviews Counted:41
Fresh:37
Rotten:4
Average Rating:7.5/10
Consensus: The well-crafted Cold Mountain has an epic sweep and captures the horror and brutal hardship of war.
Theatrical Release:Dec 25, 2003 Wide
Box Office: $95,589,607
Synopsis: Directed by Anthony Minghella (THE ENGLISH PATIENT), this Civil War saga addresses romance, friendship, and the ravages of war--both in the field and on the home front. Far more than a simple love... [More]
Starring: Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renée Zellweger, Donald Sutherland
Director: Anthony Minghella
Get This Movie
Rent DVD
Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.
Buy DVD
Reviews for Cold Mountain
Top CriticCold is right -- Anthony Minghella's pretty, star-studded adaptation of the bestselling Civil War romance never makes it above freezing.
12/27/03
Top CriticAt 154 minutes, Cold Mountain is long and seems long, at times inspired, at times merely dutiful. But in most of the important ways, it succeeds.
12/26/03
Top CriticCold Mountain is the equivalent of comfort food: old-fashioned, earthy, satisfying.
12/26/03
Top CriticIt's enough of a spectacle to enjoy. It's too bad the stars are little more than serviceable and give the movie title an irony it could certainly do without.
12/25/03
Top CriticIt's a great old-fashioned wallow of a time at the movies.
12/25/03
Top CriticWatching this movie, it seems to be the next level down from great -- maybe too episodic. But it burns in the memory weeks after you see it.
12/25/03
Top CriticCrowded with fascinating supporting characters, who make the long haul -- the movie clocks in at 2 1/2 hours -- worth attempting.
12/25/03
Top CriticIt is a promontory of undeniable beauty and occasional power, but Cold Mountain remains so dark and distant on the screen -- shivering in a wintry gloom -- that it hardly casts an emotional shadow.
12/25/03
Top CriticAs they might have said in the old days, this sweeping historical romance is one heck of a classy picture which is both its great virtue and its limitation.
12/25/03
Top CriticAn exquisitely crafted Civil War epic that combines the epic romantic sweep of Gone With the Wind with a more intimate voice that speaks eloquently to the war-weary nation of today.
12/25/03
Top CriticThere is something distancing about the film, and I don't refer to the Romanian mountains standing for North Carolina's Blue Ridge.
12/25/03
Top CriticA Civil War movie that wins some of its skirmishes but can't entirely escape battle fatigue.
12/25/03
Top CriticA sublime story of brute living and ethereal yearning.
12/25/03
Top CriticThree quarters of Cold Mountain consist of some of the most masterful and absorbing filmmaking of the year.
12/25/03
Top CriticA beautiful tale, tragic and mournful.
12/25/03
Top CriticThe dazzle doesn't add up to the sustained act of brilliance I'd been expecting. For all its many strengths, the picture ultimately feels like a mild -- and I emphasize mild -- disappointment.
12/25/03
Top CriticNot that there aren't award-worthy performances here, there are. And not that it isn't good, it is. It's just not THAT good.
12/25/03
Top CriticLike Frazier, Minghella has artfully wrangled what is essentially a series of allegorical episodes into an emotional experience of cumulative impact.
12/25/03
Top CriticSo rich with detail that each viewer will discover a scene and a character worth cherishing.
12/24/03
Top CriticLatest News for Cold Mountain
March 18, 2008:
Anthony Minghella: A Tomatometer Retrospective
English filmmaker Anthony Minghella had a sparse but critically acclaimed career by the time of his passing today at the age of 54. We turn to the six films Minghella directed,... More...
March 18, 2008:
Anthony Minghella: 1954-2008
Anthony Minghella, the Oscar-winning director of The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Cold Mountain, has passed away at the age of 54. More...
December 12, 2007:
Walter Murch on Youth Without Youth: The RT Interview (With Exclusive Photos and Clips!)
This week, Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth hits theaters in limited release. The tale of a writer who becomes young again after being struck by lightning is a... More...
February 07, 2007:
A searing and haunting period saga with a mournful, universal anti-war lament. 
More...
RT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
Wes Anderson on Fox
The director talks about puppetry perfection and his film, Fantastic Mr. Fox
Animated Oscar?
Hollywood.com ponders whether or not an animated film could win Best Picture.
TIME's Holiday Movie Preview
Richard Corliss previews the season's best offerings and hottest tickets.
Scenic Routes
The AV Club's Mike D'Angelo airs his beefs with Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
IGN RSS Feeds