This movie was savaged by every critic on earth, which pretty much confirmed my opinion that critics are all stupid. Yeah, it was kinda' sappy, but I thought it worked for the film. Contrary to many reviews, I thought John Goodman's performance was excellent. The ensemble cast carried the movie well. It wasn't "Becket", but it was totally watchable. You have to pay pretty close attention. They don't whack you over the head with exposition the way some films do. The one thing I will say is that there are a few plot and character elements that just seem to be thrown in there for no apparent reason. If you can get past that, the movie makes it's points well and clearly, if not completely originally.