The great thing about this movie is the big armies of extras in period gear, and they don't do it just for one big battle but over and over throughout the movie to the point of being gratuitous (in a good way). Way better than CGI of course. Plus the details of weapons, armor, horse riding and locations all look nice. So it's a satisfying exploration of the historical setting.
There are several moments where the development of battles doesn't make sense, and the battles sometimes turn into confused mass melees just like Hollywood depictions. And the cannon practical effects are not very good, but at least they are not as bad as in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.
The movie is only average at trying to communicate the brutality of hand to hand warfare. Nor does it communicate the severity of the tragedy that befell Poland at this time. It's supposed to be a nationalist story about one of the most terrible episodes of Polish history yet it mostly depicts it like a PG-13 fantasy adventure. There is a little bit of (rather mild) atrocity/brutality but not enough for a 4.5 hour movie and, bizarrely, it is only ever done by Poles.
The main character starts off fairly unlikeable, and while things improve when the plot gets going the slow development is a problem for such a long movie. The only character who stands out as enjoyable is Colonel Zagloba.
There is a confusing moment where a character, last seen alive and well, suddenly turns up wounded and unconscious being pulled on a sled. It's a colossal screwup that the writers apparently couldn't find time to work such a pivotal event into a 4.5 hour movie. Anyway just know before you watch that when the character turns up wounded, it's from an offscreen event and not some sort of flashback or whatever.
