The Four Feathers

All sweeping desert vistas and melodramatic 19th century colonial clichés (updated with politically correct tsk-tsking, of course), this tedious tale of heroic redemption is a hollow-hearted epic for the sake of an epic. Heath Ledger stars as a craven English army officer who resigns to avoid combat in the Sudan. Branded a coward by his closest friends, he has an unmotivated change of heart and goes to Africa alone, disguised as a munitions-hauling Arab servant, to earn back his honor rescuing each of his accusers in battle. Ledger's performance is passively earnest, but his character is so ill-defined there's simply nothing for the viewer to latch onto. Blatantly designed to be a lavish Oscar magnet, the film seems to go on forever even though chunks of story were obviously cut out, which may account for the plot holes, but doesn't excuse the historical inaccuracies, soap-operatic love triangle, or Hollywood modernizations (contemporary hairstyles and fight scenes with head-butts). Far more effort went into making The Four Feathers seem grand and important than making it feel real or sincere. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by director Shekhar Kapur, a 16-minute “A Journey From Within” making-of featurette, seven featurettes on topics such as the music score, breakdown of battles, set, location, historical comparisons, character explorations, and the prison scenes (all ranging between two and 17 minutes in length), and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a truly featherweight film.] (R. Blackwelder)