The Patriot

Rating:
Summary: Fatal Tragedy
Review: When i have seen the teaser i said "wow another Braveheart kinda movie". Than i ve seen the trailer and i said "i gotta see that one it will be a classic". Than the movie hit the theaters and i t was a total disaster. A major earthquake. All my expectations were in vain. first thirty minutes were perfect than came the troblesome scenes, like "I'll join the army" everyone getting up in that church; it was an awfull wiev. The scene the priest dies and throws his shotgun. Those scenes were like a directoral debut of a new graduate. Horrible... I rated two stars because i have a great amount of respect to Gibson and Emmerich's old works (excluding Godzilla). Be alert! Dont see that one... If you are a big American History fan that could be an excuse to see that one.

Rating:
Summary: Hollywood sells itself for cheap thrills.
Review: I find it hard to believe that after something like Titanic, with it's false facts and added glitz of a gunman who never existed, that "The Patriot" could even attempt to do the same thing. The British have never rounded up people and herded them into churches and then set them alight, a fact even american history admits. And to make out the lead character to be whiter than white when even in american history he was not even close to that degrades the good acting and great cinematography that the film obviously has. I think you have to look past cinematic licence of fiction when you're dealing with things that actually occured and are well documented, it's a shame the director and writers didn't agree.

Rating:
Summary: Great movie! Great action!
Review: This movie was truly entertaining and great to watch! I lovedthe storyline and all the characters! A must see! But I am disappointed at all the critics and reviews(including some on amazon.com) where people argue that the movie doesn't not follow the true history of The Revolutionary War. They are right. BUT IT IS A MOVIE! GET IT? If it followed the true history of the war, it would be a documentary on The Hisory Channel. It was a fictional storyline, just like most movies are, but it was a GREAT storyline. Through out the entire movie, not once did I question or care if that was how the war was really fought. Also, I hate the people who claim the movie made the British officers seem like evil men. If they didn't there wouldn't be a movie! If Colonel Tavington would have slapped Martin's sons' wrist instead of shooting him, the movie would have ended there. Why would we make the Britsh seem like nice people? If the British would have made a war movie about them beating the Americans, do you think they would have made us all nice and caring? Heck no! Wake up people! Enjoy the American Pride that this movie gives(although it is a fictional story). The worst way to watch a movie is to try to find something within the movie that is unbelievable. If that is the case, never watch any horror movies where you see the killer about 500 yards behind the victom in the "running through the woods" scene, and they suddenly turn around and the killer is 2 feet in front of them. In closing, I will give my advice to those critics who take such an analytical approach to entertainment..., and remember most movies are for entertainment purposes only, not for educational and historical purposes. Thank you, and enjoy The Patriot! GREAT MOVIE!

Rating:
Summary: Propaganda
Review: Even before its world premiere, The Patriot had become the center of not one, but two, controversies. Because the movie depicts children shooting rifles, it came under fire by certain anti-gun groups. And, because the main character is a fictionalized representation of Francis Marion, who has been confirmed as a hardcore racist by historians, questions had been raised about the film's choice of a protagonist. Perhaps these two issues were needed to spark interest in this film because, based on content alone, there's not much to get excited about. This is a derivative and relentlessly mediocre piece of propaganda

This film was also advertised as the Revolutionary War equivalent of Gibson's great Scottish epic "Braveheart", but it's nowhere near as good and does a much more methodical job of demonising the British while glamorising a revolt. The narrative essentially consists of Gibson seeking revenge against those evil Redcoats for the murder of his son - and that's it. Of course there is the over-the-top politically correct civics lesson on race that has nothing in common with real history. Indeed, the most unrealist aspect of this film is the dainty treatment of slavery. In late colonial times, South Carolina's whites were outnumbered three-to-one by Indians -- of whom The Patriot has none -- and black slaves, of whom we meet perhaps four; the colony's militia, reports historian Howard Zinn, was too occupied controlling slaves to ambush many redcoats.

Martin has black servants and field hands, but they're all free - yeah, right! -- and Gabriel assures a black militiaman who's been promised his freedom after a year's service that slavery is a sin of the Old World. (Perhaps young Gabe was unaware that the Continental Congress had recently excised a denunciation of the slave trade from slaveholder Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence.)

Then there's the cured white racist militiaman who just before the climactic battle tells the black soldier how honored he is to serve with him -- and then emphatically repeats himself, just to impress us with the filmmakers' sincerity.

Along with the over-the-top vilification of the English (their anti-partisan activity is not unlike the Nazis), Roland Emmerich needs to stick to Big Lizards and UFO's and leave American history alone.

Rating:
Summary: This is a great movie!
Review: I think that this movie is one of the best movies i have seen in a long time. Mel Gibson gave an outstanding performance! The movie was long, but it went by so fast because every moment was packed with suspense, humor, plenty of sad moments, and moments that just want to make you shout out in fear. This movie is made different from all other war movies because it has a lot of humor in it, not too much, but enough. Also, Heath Ledger gave a great performance too. I am sure that we will be seeing him in MANY other movies to come. I recomend this movie to ANYONE who has a good taste in movies.

Rating:
Summary: Way To Go, Mel!
Review: Once again Mel Gibson comes out with a great film, this time set during the Revolutionary War. Good action, good script, reasonably accurate and a truly touching story. One of my all-time favorites. Go buy "The Patriot" today! I also definently recommend "Braveheart", Gibson's other excellent movie which recently came out on DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Movie Of The Year, So Far...
Review: I wasn't too excited about this when I first heard about it but after seeing the trailers for it, I couldn't wait till it came out to head up to the theater and see it. The Patriot was by far my favorite summer movie and one of my favorite movies of the year (only Gladiator comparing even close). I think The Patriot is better than Saving Private Ryan or any other war movie because not only does it have awesome battle scenes, which really capture the face-to-face battling of that time, but Roland Emmerich, the director, really captures the struggle of all of the patriots trying to break free from England's short leash. Mel Gibson does an outstanding job of a reluctant militia man who's triggered to participate in the war after one of his sons is shot dead by the cruel English colonel William Tavington (played by Jason Isaacs ["Event Horizon"]). My only complaint is that the movie sometimes didn't capture enough emotion from the audience for some of the scenes that it should've. But all-in-all the best movie this year that I've seen, one of my all-time favorites. If you like war movies, you'll love The Patriot.

Rating:
Summary: Rubbish
Review: This movie is complete trash. First of all, the historical inaccuracies are nothing more than offensive. Emmerich would have you believe that slavery was as unpopular in South Carolina in the 1770s as it is in America today. As is typical with most modern films, the main character is the politically correct thinking modern guy projected into a historical setting (remember Dances With Wolves?) We are supposed to believe that Gibson's character, a white South Carolina plantation owner, could have such a modern view on race and slavery? Please! And how about the young girl who stands up in church and publicly chastizes her father and every other man in the community for being cowards? Very realistic, Mr. Emmerich. Also, I personally found Gibson's character to be much more reprehensible than the British colonel. Gibson, a coward, is satisfied with sitting at home and doing nothing until he is finally hit with a personal attack. Is love of country and national pride not sufficient motivation to go to war anymore? I got the feeling that Gibson couldn't be sufficiently motivated to fight until the Brits made it personal. Personally, I like to see guys like John Wayne or Humphrey Bogart talking about responsibility and love of country and going off to war because duty calls. I found myself hoping that the Brits would kill Gibson's selfish character just like they killed his sons. The evil British colonel was so cartoonish and unrealistic that I couldn't help but pull for the guy. Sometimes its better, Mr. Emmerich, to write a villain who does have some redeeming qualities. Why does the enemy always have to be completely evil? The real world is not that black and white. Well I'm running short on time and space here so I'll finish by mentioning the children in this film who surprisingly never age over the course of 10 years. This movie is garbage and a real lesson in why you should check out who the director is before you buy your ticket (I guess I didn't learn my lesson from ID4 and Godzilla).

Rating:
Summary: PRETTY LAME NAME FOR A MOVIE
Review: I'm still pondering this question: "Why did I see The Patriot in the theatres?" I guess the only reason was because Gibson is an alright actor. I don't want to compare this to Braveheart like everyone else, but if this was Gibson's next best historical epic, well then he'd better stop now! The first mistake of this film was to have Roland Emmerich ( of all people ) to direct this film. If you want a great film don't get the director of such films as Universal Soldier, Independance Day, and Godzilla! For god's sake, what were they thinking? Ths man cannot make a film with out the use of CGI. I thought maybe he would attempt it in this film,. after all it's a colonial times film. But not to my suprise I saw computer generated cannonballs! What a hoot! Second this film is way too long. 2 hours and 45 minutes is only made for films that can keep your attention the whole way through, i.e. Braveheart, and Boogie Nights. Half way through the film I wanted to leave, but because of my movie craze I had to see the whole thing. The third mistake was making the movie end in a happy way. I cannot speak for the population, but I like films where the main character dies, it's suprising in a way, it's different, i.e. Gladiator, and Braveheart.The final mistake was the name of the film. Whatever you do in hollywood, do not make the mistake of naming you "epic" film after a Steven Seagal, straight-to-cable film. Yes in 1998 a film called The Patriot starring non other than Americas least favorite action star Steven Seagal was released. But of course the makers of the new Patriot were unaware? ( give me a break ) Well now that you read this whole speil of my opinions, I can say I did compare The Patriot to Braveheart, a little, but just know that this movies ...., and so does the title!

Rating:
Summary: good movie
Review: i thought this movie was great! I saw it twice and loved it each time! But the movie was kinda bloody so if u don't like that kinda stuff you might not wanna see it! I think Mel did a great acting in this movie! I think it is great and recomend you go see it!