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All Movie Info
Directed By
Roland Emmerich
Written By:
Robert Rodat
Cast:
Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Jason Isaacs, Chris Cooper, Tcheky Karyo, Joely Richardson, Tom Wilkinson, Donal Logue, Rene Auberjonois, Adam Baldwin, Leon Rippy
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The Patriot (2000)
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Movie Review by Jarrod 
July 3rd, 2007
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I wonder if The Patriot would have been better if Gibson directed it, and not Roland Emmerich, who did the atrocious Godzilla remake, but also the competent special effects extravaganza Independence Day, and the preposterous Day After Tomorrow.
Emmerich tries to make this as much of a spectacle as he can, and I think he sacrifices quality and substance to get in a lot of battle sequences, which are not that exciting, except for the last one, which has the inevitable confrontation between good and evil and a scramble to put up the American flag, signaling the end of the Revolutionary War. Gibson is Benjamin Martin, a widower with five or six kids (never bothered to count them all). A veteran of the French and Indian War, where he established a rather unsavory reputation, he is now a pacifist, and refuses to join the colonial militia being built up to fight the British. That is, until an over-the-top sadistic officer named Tavington (Isaacs) kills one of his sons, with absolute glee, and then trots off on his horse. Martin seeks revenge, and that is what drives his enlistment, a desire to kill Tavington. Maybe freedom and independence are secondary in his mind.
Heath Ledger is his oldest son Gabriel, who also joins the militia, and of course, has a vendetta against Tavington, too, formed after he burns downs a church with Gabriel's young wife inside, along with her whole family and other innocent townspeople. Wilkinson is Cornwallis, the commander of the British forces, a man of elegant taste, who despises Tavington, and insists on gentlemanly conduct, but also understands that extreme methods may need to be used to break the will of the rebels.
Gibson is OK as the hero of the piece, but, like most everything else in the movie, he is mediocre and lacks any real emotion or conviction. It fails to grab you and hold your interest, Tavington's eventual comeuppance is not even that satisfying. A few dramatic speeches here and there about honor and the virtues of liberty make things seem even cheesier, especially since the speeches in question are not that stirring, nothing like what the real statesmen of the time would say or did say, and much of what they said has been preserved in history because it is so impassioned and so eloquent.
The film lacks a sense of place and also strategy. Where is Washington? Battles occur in vague locations, a forest, a field, the really important and famous battles are overlooked, even Yorktown, the outcome of which is described briefly in the sparse epilogue. But is a history lesson really the purpose of the movie? No, but Tavington's cruelty is exaggerated to great lengths, did no Americans commit atrocities during the war? Needles to say, Isaacs hams it up, and emerges as probably the most interesting character. His menacing gaze, his psychotic sneer, his cold accent, he lays it on thick. The dialogue all seems modern, which hurts the authenticity, though the costumes are appropriate for the period. And Martin romances his sister-in-law, played by Joely Richardson.
Great score by John Williams, terrific cinematography, but overall, a substandard effort that seems to betray the very essence of the Revolutionary War itself.
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 | Lisa
Jul 3, 2007 9:45 AM
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| The movie was hit and miss for me ....not terrible but nothing to write home about either although Rodat made a calous murderer out of a great Liverpudlian William Tavington...Rodat deseves a kick in the dick for that. |
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