September Dawn 2007

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The villainous turns by Jon Voight (as a hard-hearted Mormon bishop) and Terence Stamp (as a bloodthirsty Brigham Young) would have been more fun if they weren't part of such a clumsy campaign to lay this tragedy at the church's doorstep. Read more

Ted Fry, Seattle Times: Religious and thematic issues aside, September Dawn is well-crafted as a revisionist Western with a message. Read more

Steven Hyden, AV Club: With its complete lack of empathy for early Mormons and simplistic rendering of historical figures, September Dawn is that rare movie that actually deserves whatever condemnation might come from religious groups. Read more

Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic: The real problem is that September Dawn isn't a very good movie. It moves too much like a public-school history pageant and gives us mono-dimensional characters who speak dialogue that fairly reeks of printer's ink. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: It's waxy Classics Illustrated cinema. Read more

Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times: The workmanlike craftsmanship of Cain's filmmaking almost (but never quite) smooths over the ham-fisted way he conceives the story. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: [Director Cain] stops short of calling Osama bin Laden a Mormon sympathizer, but maybe that'll be on the DVD. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: A plodding and highly questionable history lesson. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: It turns a complicated story of religious bigotry and paranoia, with visitations from God, self-appointed prophets and 'divine' instruction into a dry history lesson. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: Bombastic, slow-drying dramatization with lead-weight dialogue and a turgid romantic subplot. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Disturbingly awful. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Why does this film even exist? Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It has the chilling certitude of the self-righteous. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: What a strange, confused, unpleasant movie this is. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The film feels less like historical drama than a venomous religious tract printed on celluloid. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: This handsome indie Western damningly recounts the 1857 slayings of 120 settlers passing through Utah, but the didactic presentation, grim speechifying and tacked-on love story all signify a less-than-healthy regard for the audience's intelligence. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: September Dawn has the ham-fisted lyricism of political ads and pharmaceutical commercials. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Even if one gets past the movie's controversial depictions, there is the matter of its second-rate, made-for-television fare -- the poor battle choreography, the wooden editing and the cheesy writing. Read more