Rating: 
Summary: Great story but...
Review: Simply on the basis of its story, The Patriot is as good a movie as I've seen in years. Mel Gibson is a great storyteller, maybe the best in Hollywood. As in Braveheart, Gibson knows just what emotional buttons to push to draw you in and hold you fast. And one of my definitions of a great movie is a movie that seems shorter than it is. When I saw this in the theater, it felt half an hour long. All in all, a great movie......if you're not conversant in history. You can fudge the history in a movie like Braveheart. The sources are not all that reliable anyway. With the American Revolution, it is another matter. In America, the history is fairly well-documented and everyone knows it so mistakes positively scream at you. The one thing about this movie that I simply couldn't overlook was its numerous historical distortions. Like? Well there were all those African-American folks about. Seems to me that when dealing with the S word, you need to do one of two things. You make Ben Martin an over-the-mountain man with a Cherokee wife, you bring him across the Blue Ridge Mountains to fight the battle of King's Mountain, and you let him stick around until the end of the war, making wry comments to the slaveholders he's fighting alongside. Or you go ahead, face the problem directly, and make him a slaveholder. Maybe he frees his slaves at the end or maybe he just starts feeling REALLY ambivalent about slavery. The one thing you positively can't do is not to address the issue at all. Or Colonel Tavington. Banastre Tarleton, the man upon whom Tavington is based, was a tough and occasionally brutal soldier. But he was most emphatically not the Nazi fiend portrayed in this movie. There were atrocities committed in the southern theater, but it was usually Ben Martin's neighbors who committed them. There is no record of British officers locking people in a church and setting the church on fire. Tavington's cartoonish sadism was unnecessary and irritating. All movie "villians" needn't be Nazis or even particularly bad people. Or the battles. How can you have a movie about the Revolutionary War in the South and leave out King's Mountain, the battle that turned the tide? Where was Daniel Morgan? How could Gibson even think about leaving out the Old Waggoner? And what was final battle supposed to be? A combination of the Cowpens and Guilford Court House? The Cowpens alone would have been easier to stage, easier to follow, and much more dramatic. If you can overlook the historical lapses, The Patriot is a great piece of storytelling. If you can't, this movie may drive you up a wall.
Rating: 
Summary: One Of The Better Movies Of 2000
Review: Few movies can generate such an impact on a viewer and impose such an overwhelming feeling of patriotism, as does Roland Emmerich's aptly titled summer film "The Patriot". Before even viewing it, you could determine that a war epic starring Mel Gibson had two words written all over it... Oscar contender. And rightly so. Emmerich does a brilliant job setting each scene. But not in such a way that it became a predictable film. Time period, character significance, and a general movie concept are established quickly and viewers can enjoy its contents without becoming lost in a sea of understatements and foreshadowing. And what's more incredible is that "The Patriot" is very well written, especially for such a time period as the 18th century. I personally found there to be no "modern terms" that can easily slip into character dialect as writers hastily try to complete editing before deadlines. And now that we have a potential epic on our hands, all we need now is Hollywood's favorite leading man to make it complete. Ah yes, Mr. Mel Gibson. A director couldn't ask for a better actor as Gibson whose repertoire stretches back 20 years and portraying dozens of different characters. But what undoubtedly gave Gibson an edge in casting processes is a little movie in which he played a Scottish warrior vying for "FREEDOM!" And also in which the topic of patriotism was underlined. I would of course be talking about the epic, award-winning "Braveheart". And one can easily contrast "Braveheart" and "The Patriot" and find the similarities striking. Too striking perhaps. And so I conclude that in spite of Gibson's great performance, Emmerich simply had to find someone else to portray a lead character. Anyone who saw both films would agree with me when I say that "The Patriot" was an Americanized "Braveheart". But I cannot deny that Emmerich and his film deserve any accolades that it receives. A shoe-in at this year's Oscars no doubt.
Rating: 
Summary: I REALLY LOVE this movie!!!!
Review: I'm a young person so I first wanted to see this movie because of the very talented and very gorgeous Heath Ledger!! But I found myself completely taken in by the story line!!!!! Mel Gibson was stunning as Benjamin Martin and Jason Isaacs played the part of Tavington well, he is a great actor, but I out and out hated his character for what he does to Gabriel...don't know what I'm talking about?? Well, do yourself a favor and rent The Patriot!! It is one of my favorite movies of all time!! ALso one more thing! This movie really brought the feeling of patriotism alive for me...I mean you learn about the American Revolution in school and it's like "Yeah a bunch of dead guys fought and won our country from Britain." But this whole movie makes the American Revolution real!! now I have a better understanding of it!!
Rating:
Summary: I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!!
Review: What on the world...? Lost of you are saying the movie was BAD! Oh well. That's YOUR opinon, not mine. The movie was great. The polt was nice and tragic-it may SOUND boring, but it's not, I assure you. The acting? Very convincing. I mean, you can really tell what the characters are thinking. The screenlay was very well made. The villan (God! What was his name! Ooo! Travington!)was one of the most cruelest villans I have seen. Everythong about this movie was so beautiful. The war scenes were realistic, bu at times too voilent.
Rating: 
Summary: So typical and so bad.
Review: In addition to the fact that Mel Gibson is repeating a role he played a thousand times as movingly in Braveheart, every other character can be seen in countless movies that come a dime a dozen and have since the beginning of popular film. The Patriot is simply awful... brimming with shallow, one-dimensional characters and a completely predictable plot. Worst of all, however, is the utterly embarassing take on history. The U.S. Revolution is made to look like a one-sided affair in which the colonies were justified and the British completely out of line. This, of course, is nonsense. The presence of the evil British officer is absurd - it was the colonies that were breaking the rules of war in the Revolution, not the British. Consider, for example, Gibson's hit-and-run tactics in the movie. These were not considered clever in the revolution, but rather to be violations of the standard mode in which combat was held (two forces facing off on a field). The movie is ludicrous and unbelievable, as well as a huge step down for Gibson as an actor.
Rating:
Summary: the war in the south
Review: This was a great movie. It, focused on the war in the south, and not the almighty north. Lets face it Cornwallis and the British where on a roll. And who stopped them and pushed them to Yorktown,Virginia the Southern army, not Washington.
Rating:
Summary: A SOUTHERN VICTORY
Review: It is a shame that Americans are taught that the American War for Independence was fought only in the northern part of the country. It is even sadder that Americans believe that the war was WON in the north. Thank you, Mel Gibson, for educating the United States of America and the world. Independence was fought for and won in the Southern Colonies. The outstanding point of this movie is that it is about the forgotten war of the Revolution that made this country's independence possible. The movie makes me proud to whistle Dixie.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but grossly inaccurate.
Review: I was surprised by The Patriot in that it was more entertaining than I had expected. I was not; however, disappointed in Hollywood's typical, inaccurate story-telling. Others have spouted the "who cares--it's only a movie" line. They miss the point. Many of the uneducated masses will consider this movie accurate--it is not. The Brits were not nearly as brutal as depicted in the film--no, they never herded townspeople in a church and then burned it to the ground. The slavery aspect was also poorly represented. Yes, free slaves often worked for a family as depicted in the movie, but this wasn't very common. But at least Hollywood veered away from it's anti-gun rights agenda and actually showed children using muskets and shooting at the Brits (although the incredible accuracy they demonstrated illustrated Hollywood's ignorance of 18th century arms, sigh). As a side note--the predictable media uproar over this scene was pretty amusing. What! Children using guns instead of just blankly standing by while the Brits try to kill their father! Oh the HORROR!! Still, the film was better than I had expected it to be, but it is still a renter. It works as mindless entertainment, but it's historical statement is blatently unsophisticated.
Rating:
Summary: Flawed but emotionally satisfying entertainment
Review: I have to admit that I am a sucker for big, bloody, emotional epics. I loved "Gladiator," "Braveheart," "Saving Private Ryan," and "Titanic." (Well, "Titanic" isn't really bloody, but it still counts as big and epic.) And although I generally avoid mainstream--I hated "Men In Black." "Independence Day" was fun to watch once, but that's about the most I can say about it, and "Godzilla" just stank. Period. However, I thoroughly enjoyed "The Patriot," strikingly similar to "Braveheart" as it is. It was long, with many slow stretches, but it was otherwise entertaining and heart-wrenching, complete with an audience-pleasing, happy ending. I can't say that I'm some sort of American Revolution expert, because I'm not, so I can't vouch for the historical accuracy of the film, which I doubt it was. Still, it's a fine piece of historical fantasy, and I'm pretty sure the costumes were authentic. From what I understand, they were done by the same woman who did the amazing costumes for "Titanic." I loved the score by John Williams, and the film itself was a definite improvement over the director's "Godzilla" or "Independence Day." As I said in the title, the film is flawed, but it's great entertainmet, and if you're like me, you'll bawl your eyes out in some parts. The DVD itself is really cool. It has tons of fun extras. I think it's worth watching a couple of times. It has some excellent performances by up-and-coming Australian actor Heath Ledger ("10 Things I Hate About You"), and I was impressed by the little girl who played Mel's youngest daughter. And even though I doubt Mel will win an Oscar for this one, I think his performance is worth mentioning as well.
Rating:
Summary: A Great movie! One you'll watch more than once!
Review: Mel Gibson plays a family man during the revolutionary war. He has hung up his weapons and wants to live peacefully on his family farm and care for his children. He has a past as a fearsome warrior, but has hung up his axe (literally). He's an admirable character. Unfortunately the tide of war comes close to home and he is forced to take up arms to defend those he loves (his children) and fight for freedom from British tierany. He becomes an respected leader of a band of simple country folk who took up arms in defense of freedom for this great country of ours. They look up to him as a great leader and follow him into battle. The scenes of battle leave you feeling such great admiration for these simple people who could have taken the easy road, but instead took the hard road even though they knew that for many of them it would lead to death. The acting in this film (all the actors) is wonderful, you feel as though you are watching the real thing and not just a recreation of the past. There are gut-wrenching scenes that won't soon leave your heart, and there are cinematic scenes that are stunning. This is a GREAT movie that I will watch more than once and it has earned keeper status on my shelf.
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