THE PATRIOT
A film review by Christopher Null
Copyright 2000 filmcritic.com
filmcritic.com
A note to filmmakers who want to make a movie about a war: Please
understand that your film does not need to be as long as the actual war
itself. We will not hold it against you if it's shorter. As such, I
will try to keep this review to a length where you can read it in a few
minutes.
The Patriot gives Mel Gibson the opportunity to do something he's never
done before: To orate at length about the evils of taxation without
representation... oh, okay... and to kill a bunch of damn redcoats!!!
Faced with the death of his wife, The Patriot offers us Gibson the
widower pacifist, playing the part of South Carolina colonialist
Benjamin Martin, unswayed by arguments that war should be initiated
against Britain. When his son Gabriel (Heath Ledger) enlists despite
his father's forbiddance, Martin is left at home to raise his other six
kids while the war rages around him.
Circumstances arise to take the life of one of the children at the hands
of the uber-evil redcoat Colonel Tavington (Jason Isaacs), which awakens
the repressed blood lust in the former soldier Martin. Perhaps one of
the best battle scenes ever filmed follows, with Martin and two of his
kids picking off 20 redcoats in the forest, leaving Martin covered in
gore.
The Patriot soon becomes the epic it was intended to be, with grand
colonial battles fought by lines of soldiers politely shooting at one
another until one side is dead. But Martin (an amalgam of several real
Revolutionaries) brings dirty guerilla tactics to the war, and after
forming a militia of scrappy mercenaries, soon he's got General
Cornwallis (Tom Wilkinson) running scared.
While The Patriot will draw obvious comparisons to Braveheart, it is
actually far more reminiscent of Kevin Costner's Robin Hood sprinkled
with a bit of The Last of the Mohicans. Martin lives in the woods and
attacks the Brits in small groups, absconding with their booty. There's
even a holy man (Rene Auberjonois) and a foreigner (Tch�ky Karyo, in a
great supporting turn as a French sympathizer) who fight alongside the
rebels.
This turns out to be a good thing, because God knows we don't need
another Braveheart. The Patriot also turns out to be a message movie,
filled with issues regarding honor vs. survival, vengeance vs.
forgiveness, negotiation vs. war, and glory vs. sacrifice. This isn't
just some ordinary war movie. It's deep, with John Williams' score
driving the heart-tugging home and Roland Emmerich's direction not
getting in the way. And I say all that in a rare moment of non-sarcasm.
Unfortunately, at close to three hours in length, The Patriot has plenty
of time to get hokey. The bad guy is drawn as broadly as a Bond
villain, and a gaggle of subplots don't add much to the film, just
making it unnecessarily longer. The anti-slavery motif is especially
hokey and unneeded.
But, as usual, I quibble. The Patriot, against all expectations, is
probably the best movie I've seen this summer to date. And where else
can a German director and an Australian star put together a movie about
the Revolutionary War. Ah, only in America.
RATING: ****
|------------------------------|
\ ***** Perfection \
\ **** Good, memorable film \
\ *** Average, hits and misses \
\ ** Sub-par on many levels \
\ * Unquestionably awful \
|------------------------------|
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Roland Emmerich
Producer: Dean Devlin
Writer: Robert Rodat
Starring: Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Joely Richardson, Jason Isaacs,
Chris Cooper, Tch�ky Karyo, Rene Auberjonois, Lisa Brenner, Tom
Wilkinson, Donal Logue
http://www.thepatriot.com/
Have I seen this movie: Yes
And what did I think: The Patriot is a grand epic film about the Revolutionary War. It stars Mel Gibson who I found was a curious choice to play the lead character of the Patriot since he himself is Austrailian. Anyway, he plays the character of Benjamin Martin, a retired war hero who is not a Pacifist and only wants to raise his seven children. That is, until the war comes to his own fron yard. The evil British capture his eldest son and is sentenced to hang. His next oldest son is brutally shot by a cruel British officer named Col. William Tavington after he tries to help his brother. To top it all off, Benjamin's home is torched. After losing his one son, he refuses to let his oldest one to receive the same fate. In a bloody scene....there are lots here.... He and two other sons rescue the oldest son. From there, he gathers a group of militia together, former farmers, to help fight the British. He is named the Ghost by the British because he fights with more stealth and tactics instead of the open battlefield approach where soldiers just march into a hail of gunfire. Mel Gibson gives a great performance here and is worthy of a look by the Academy. There is a great supporting cast as well, most notably by newcomer Heath Ledger who plays the oldest son who Benjamin Martin does everything to protect him. This film is directed by Roland Emmerich who gave us Independence Day and Godzilla. He outdoes himself with this film. Now this is not an easy film to watch, so prepare yourself. There are some extremely graphic war scenes here that even surpass Saving Private Ryan. If seeing people's heads blown apart by cannonballs doesn't phase you, then you won't have to worry. Some of the things that the British do in this film are disturbing to watch as well. This film is being objected by British people I hear. Also this is a very long movie, about three hours. Some of it runs too long and I think it could have been edited down somewhat. This is definately worth checking out though.
I give The Patriot 4 out of 5 stars.
Review written July 3, 2000
