One of Ridley Scott's most wrong-headed films, this one (like all of his movies) looks fabulous and sounds utterly ridiculous, almost from the beginning. His first mistake was casting the wonderful Gerard Dépardieu as Columbus and forcing him to speak English, which Dépardieu does with decided difficulty. After spending far too much time on the ocean with Columbus' three ships (you wish they would sail over the edge of the world), they arrive in the West Indies, only to turn around and sail back. The rest of the film deals with the not particularly comprehensible politics of Columbus' venture, which leads to the violent slaughter of trusting natives by a band of cardboard villains. Dépardieu, who radiates sympathy, looks as if he's at sea with this material. --Marshall Fine, Amazon.com