Ride with the Devil

< Previous Trailer  |   Add to My Scrapbook  |   Next Trailer >
Ride with the Devil

63% Liked It
liked it

Ride with the Devil

Tobey Maguire, Skeet Ulrich, Jonathan Brandis, James Caviezel, Jewel

Great period pictures make you feel as if you've stepped into another era, heard its language, breathed its spirit, and come away with a fresh perspective on that time as well as your own. Ride with t...( read more  read more... )he Devil is one of those special films--why wasn't it more widely embraced by reviewers and filmgoers? Did it rely too much on our patience for slow accumulation of unforced rhythms and meanings (as opposed to The Patriot, which "moved" audiences with cattle-prod simplicity and manipulation)? Ride with the Devil--smart, handsome, tenderly awed by how individual lives get ambushed by history--is ripe for rediscovery.

The Civil War of battlefields and plantation houses is nowhere to be seen here. Instead we see the war as an improvised and largely blundering but very bloody feud among neighbors in the border state of Missouri. In this bucolic war zone--more than a little reminiscent of the Balkans in the late 1990s--the Taiwanese-born director Ang Lee (Sense and Sensibility) traces the destinies of several young Southern bushwhackers (guerrilla fighters) as they experience violence, the seasons, and different kinds of love. Skeet Ulrich draws the aristocratic glamour role (and top billing), but he's overshadowed by Tobey Maguire as a first-generation American, the magnificent Jeffrey Wright (a shameful oversight at Oscar time) as a freed slave fighting beside his former master, and singer Jewel in a very natural acting debut as the young widow who graces all their lives. The title The Birth of a Nation was already taken, but by the end of this movie you feel it would have applied here. -- Richard T. Jameson

Id: 10899306

Do you want to see this movie?

My Friends Said...

Ride with the Devil Recent Reviews

Register or sign-in to see your friends' reviews !

Recent Reviews

Ride with the Devil Recent Reviews
  • kiriyamakazou
    September 4, 2008
    kiriyamakazou
    Lee can take on any period, any place and any genre. He is a master filmmaker who not only slips silently into his role but also offers films with a different edge to their counterparts. Ride With the Devil is one of the most under appreciated films ever made. It is a gem of a fi...( read more)lm. On its western/civil war merits it has fast paced well edited shoot outs with hard hitting violence worthy of Peckinpah. The characterisation is excellently handled especially from Jeffry Wright who doesn't play your average black man in a civil war movie as he "sides" with those who are against his freedom. It's a complex affectionate role, which you have to see to understand his loyalties and platonic love for another man. It was this role that supposedly killed this film at the box-office as many found it hard to accept. This is also supposedly why Wright doesn't appear on any DVD covers or posters despite being a main character. It's sad that such an excellent tale that tried something different was killed because of it. As well as those exciting shoot outs and horseback chases are more human moments such as Maguires readings of others letters. His "army" just wants to hear what is written though not addressed to any of them. Each character takes something a bit different from such a quiet moment. Beautifully crafted but as always with Lee very accessible.
  • jonnycrumley
    October 1, 2009
    jonnycrumley
    I'm a big Any Lee fan, so I was curious to see his venture into the Western genre. Ride With The Devil is a great movie, with authentic dialogue, strong performances, and impressive camera work.
  • broadwaymo
    March 29, 2007
    broadwaymo
    Great period costuming and dialog! But, the plot left much to be desired. Tobey, Skeet and even Jewel did the best they could, given what they had to work with.
  • alkatraz76
    July 10, 2009
    alkatraz76
    This movie is great for several reasons. The characters and the lines that they have are fantastic. It tells a story that hasn't really ever been told. One of those small stories in a big story. Johnathan brandis' best work was in this film(rip). It is simply about that madness o...( read more)f the world snatching up everyone around it, no matter who they are.
  • Homerisagod
    June 8, 2009
    Homerisagod
    i might watch it one day...
  • anthonyredpath1
    April 8, 2009
    anthonyredpath1
    There are other westerns which pack more punch
  • gypsylibrarian
    January 10, 2009
    gypsylibrarian
    I caught this on cable. It caught my eye, since it had Tobey McGuire in it. It was a pretty good Civil War era film.
  • heavyd2000
    October 26, 2008
    heavyd2000
    This is a great fil from the side most people know nothing about. I would love to see the directors cut. Terrably underated and more accurate than most films about the war between the states.
  • Ghw12158
    October 8, 2008
    Ghw12158
    good stuff amazing cast
  • elew83
    September 13, 2008
    elew83
    An excellent civil war movie.
View All Reviews

Opening This Week

Top Box Office

Upcoming Movies

New on DVD