Rating: 
Summary: No history lesson but
Review: this film does have merit. For one it is entertaining, I like Mel Gibson and the other actors as well and IMHO believe they did a fine job of acting. Jason Isaacs in particular did a fine job.
For another it shows a large audience in the US that the war for independence was fought in other places besides Boston, Valley Forge, New York etc It also demonstrated the brutality of the war in the south.
And it is my hope that the film will spur people to pick up a book about this part of the Rev War. There are many, excellent books about it. May I recommend BRUTAL VIRTUE (dispels the myths about Tarleton), THIS DESTRUCTIVE WAR: THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN THE CAROLINAS, and a new book A GALLANT DEFENSE (which superbly details the battle to take Charleston SC).
Once you begin reading you will learn that the Brits were not monsters and the Patriots were not saints. If your entire knowledge of the Rev War in the Carolinas is from this movie then you will be either pleasantly suprised or sadly disappointed after you read these and many other fine books on the subject.
The movie, after everything is said and done, is nothing more than 2 hours of entertainment very loosley based on actual events.
Rating:
Summary: A BRAVEHEART IN COLONIAL TIMES
Review: The patriot basically is a knock-off of "Braveheart" in buckskin vests and powdered wigs, but that doesn't seem to bother Mel Gibson, who won an Oscar for directing that film and stars in this one as another tread-upon colonial who takes up arms against England for his nation's freedom. A hero of the French and Indian War who has since pledged to raise his children as a pacifist plantation farmer in South Carolina. He takes up arms against the British after one of his sons is killed in cold blood. Much like Braveheart, Gibson becomes a one-man army, leading a band of colonialist against the Red Coats. Still, for all its adherence to formula, "The Patriot" is certainly handsome and effectively rousing in small ways, like the scenes in which Martin smelts his dead son's toy soldiers into musket balls, or when he rallies farmers and villagers to arms, resulting in a motley militia of "colorful" roughnecks from central casting. Not a bad movie, but as with Braveheart, not high in historical accuracy and he Gibson isn't surrounded by nearly the stellar cast of that movie.
Rating: 
Summary: #1 BEST AMERICAN MOVIE EVER!!
Review: THIS MOVIE WAS AWESOME!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Pathetic Pseudohistorical Drama
Review: Horrible film on the American Revolution starring Mel Gibson. I would give this film a -100 if I could. In addition to the formulaic cameo shots pointlessly and continuously revolving around Mel; the film is further debased by a pathetic script and horribly gross historical inaccuracies. The story line is generic and can be found in an introductory film class textbook. Mel Gibson's rigid performance kills the film beyond redemption. Shun this film like the plague! Watch "Last of The Mohicans" for a film dealing with revolutionary or pre-revolutionary America; you won't miss a thing by not seeing this Hollywood cr*p!
Rating: 
Summary: Repeat of Braveheart
Review: Mel Gibson is a respectable and talented actor. But the character he played was a spitting image of William Wallace. The portrayal of British officers was inaccurate and upscaled for hollywood sake. The storyline was OK, but the depth of the characters were too cookie cutter and unrealisitic. The setting, and the truth behind Mel's character was lost in translation. Too bad they tried to make another Braveheart. The first one was fabulous, the second was far from fabulous.
Rating:
Summary: a fiction less interesting than the true stories
Review: What a waste. This avg story with a predictable progression and ending. It follows a "formula" of revenge and saving the girl. It is a pale substitute for true stories left untold about the war in the Carolina's. It's not that I hated the movie, it's that I moan at the lost chance to tell really facinating true stories. Hollywood found a way to make something interesting and earth shaking into something vanilla and predictable. Just a few of the true stories of the war in the region are...
The Rise (despite the eventually dramatic fall) of Cornwallis vs. the Hero of Saratoga (and the "goat" of Camden) Horatio Gates. Too much plot twist and suspense? Later, Cornwallis in a desperate chase of Nat Green's army burned all his baggage durning the chase thru NC that ended in a river of blood at Guilford courthouse. Here he intentionally shot his own troops in the back with cannon fire in an attempt to turn the tide of the battle. It worked...but he lost over 25% of his army in the effort. Too much adventure and gore? The Notorious Banastre Tarleton vs. The stunningly heroic Daniel Morgan at Cowpens. BEFORE the battle Morgan was a real hero that is bigger than any fiction portrayed by the patriot. In the French Indian war Morgan was sentenced to 500 lashes after he punched out the lights of a Brithis Officer. He survived and later bragged that he only got 499 whips and "owed the king a lashing". He became an officer in the revolution and was shot thru the head and neck, lost half his teeth, and continued to fight in the revolution ... and there is MORE! Too much "die hard" toughness? The Over-The-Mountain-Men vs Patrick Ferguson and the tories at Kings Mountain. Men poured out the the back country to fight against Ferguson who insulted their masculinity. They chased him down, killed him in battle, and Ferguson's body was found with at least 7 bullet holes. Too much action? etc, etc, etc.... The true historical facts are so full of action, adventure, suspense, cruelty, glory, defeat, gore, risk, and victory that this "less interesting" fiction make the real history of the war in the Carolina's look boring. The truth is BY FAR more compelling than this fiction.
Rating:
Summary: melodramatic, historically inaccurate garbage....
Review: i won't dignify this drivel with a long- winded review. plainly aimed at red-necked, gung-ho patriotism, this feeble rendering of an episode in the war of independence made me cringe. the battle scenes were well done - but that's it. the representation of the british as nazis is embarrassing and an insult to the intelligence of americans. come on mel, we know you have a big hate thing for the english (e.g. gallipoli, braveheart etc. where your flights of fancy take wing) but give us some credit! burning a church down-hmmm...i doubt if this anti-british bull would have been so well received if the brits had been fighting alongside us in afghanistan and iraq when it was made. there were good reasons for the struggle for independence - sadly they're not represented in this cr*p. and as for the portrayal of black american slaves as happy, smiling allies, puuuleeaaassee. it was the brits who promised freedom to the slaves!
like the brits rising to become the superpower of the nineteenth century, the story of america's rise from a colonial outpost of the british empire to the dominant power it is today should make for a great story - why hasn't anybody really told it yet? (and without the " u.s.a. all the way" b*ll). let's have the self-confidence to tell the story, warts and all (the slavery issue, segregation, the decimation of native americans...) without this sanitized, zenophobic *^*^! well, i've had my rant.. thank you...
Rating:
Summary: Historical fantasy.......
Review: Patriot proves to be a highly entertaining film but its not history, real or pretend. It sheer fantasy per Hollywood, especially when you got 20th century military warfare values inserted into 18th Century. Its sad that British soldiers are treated like Nazis in this movie and there seem to be no sense of time or period to this movie. Its make it up as you go on. I found it quite entertaining listening to the director talk on my DVD as he mentioned so often how "historically accurate" he tried to be in all aspects. In this case, he probably got some of the names right and at least knew that the British infantry wore red and American infantry mostly wore blue. Who ever were the historical consultants on this movie must either come from Iran or were bribed to put their stamp of approval on it. On the other hand, Mel Gibson movies are rarely boring and he was pretty good in this movie. He sure sugarcoated everything about the slavery issue but overall, there were enough blood, guts, humor and action to satisfied most viewers. I got the Superbit DVD version which was also excellent in all aspect but don't have the extra of the regular DVD which I also end up owning. As long as you don't learned your history form watching this movie, its strictly cartoon movie for fun and joy. Of course, some scenes were bit graphic.
Rating:
Summary: Poor realism
Review: I thought the this movie just brought on a bad image of the british aka red coats as they were called in this so called
"movie". All though this movie may have been fun to watch you will learn hardly anything about the time period. Many things about how the british treated the Americans were false like how the british burned the church with all the towns people in it. This would not happen back then the british were not likely to commet war crimes at the time.
Rating:
Summary: Gibson's Revolution
Review: If you are expecting an action-filled drama set during the American Revolutionary War, then The Patriot is a "must see" movie. Released by Columbia/Tristar Studios in 2000 and directed by Roland Emmerich (Independence Day and Stargate), this fictional drama is set in South Carolina during the mid to late 1770's. Emmerich did an excellent job of recreating the garb, lifestyles, and the militia of colonial America. He also did not skimp on the battle scenes in this film as he depicted the violence and the horrors of war with cannon and musket balls ripping through the ranks of soldiers. But, where he departs from the truth is in his portrayal of the British as a somewhat "foppish" lot as well depicting the life of the African "slave" in genteel surroundings. Mel Gibson plays Benjamin Martin, a farmer/ex-hero of the French and Indian War. As a widower, Martin is torn between caring for his seven children and the love of his country. Haunted by memories of his own violence during the French and Indian War, Martin chose the pacifist route when South Carolina entered the war against the British. But, he will be drawn into the conflict when one of his son's is murdered literally on the doorstep of his home by a ruthless British officer, Colonel Tavington (Jason Isaacs), who would be his arch nemesis throughout the movie, and the other son, Gabriel (Heath Ledger), is to be hanged for treason following a battle between the colonials and the British in the fields adjoining his plantation home. In addition, the dastardly colonel orders the Martin house torched, the wounded colonial soldiers shot, and his "slaves", who proclaim that they work as free men and women, commandeered to serve the British. Martin, with the help of his two small sons, will ambush the party of British soldiers with Gabriel in town. A lone survivor, who is still dazed with shock, swears that it was "ghost" who attacked and massacred their unit. Under Martin's command, a militia is formed that will use these same bushwhacker tactics to systematically attack the British, and then disappear into the swamp. (For the history buff, there was a real "Swamp Fox" during the American Revolutionary War, Francis Marion, who used this same type of guerilla warfare.) There is also an underlying love story between Gabriel and Ann Howard (Lisa Brenner), who was a childhood friend, and Gibson and Joely Richardson, who plays Benjamin Martin's sister-in-law Charlotte. The film is not without humor as Martin hoodwinks General Cornwallis (Tom Wilkinson), into releasing a group of Martin's militia, who are about to be hanged. Overall, Gibson gives a marvelous performance in this epic film, which runs approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes. Due to the graphic and violent nature of the battle scenes, this film is not suitable for all audiences, especially those who are squeamish at the sight of blood.
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