Film Preview: September Dawn (2007)

Trailers (Due to age, may no longer be available)

Posters (Due to age, may no longer be available)

Poster Rating: D-

Review: This poster too closely resembles the one used to advertise Apocalypse Now. Since the setting is supposedly a wagon train assaulted by rogue Mormons, I’d say the comparison is very loose at best. The text on the left is too much for most audiences to read unless they are bored and waiting for their movie to start. And the use of the September 11 date as a selling point is clearly ill-advised.

Trailer Rating: C-

Review: Well, the description of the film doesn’t match the trailer’s theme at all. This is a story of corruption in the early Mormon church about a massacre ordered by the church. The purpose is not explained, but it’s clear that we’ll get a version of the story that may not even be true. The trailer says that the film is "Inspired by real events". That generally means it’s heavily fictionalized and only minimally rooted in fact. However, what says it all is one particularly hammy scene from Jon Voight where he’s supposedly sermonizing, though the full intent of the scene is unclear. It’s the perfect reminder of how ridiculous some projects can be even with talented actors attached.

Oscar Prospects:

Reading the description, this sounds like a further ill-conceived version of Titanic. Setting a Romeo & Juliet type story against a 140-person massacre seems rather distasteful and I doubt Oscar voters will latch onto this one.