Rating: 
Summary: 4 1/2 stars, Anyhow!
Review: I never used to like Mel Gibson, but after seeing this movie and "Braveheart" I can't remember why.I'm disturbed by the pointless violence found in many modern films, but in a story about war violence serves a purpose. When we get some inkling of the suffering endured by those who fought to secure the freedoms we all now take for granted, perhaps we won't be in such a big rush to abandon those freedoms every time the going gets a little tough. I think this movie does a good job of walking the line between telling a patriotic story about a war that I'm glad we won on one hand, and making war look too glamorous and fun on the other. Some have said the British were unfairly shown in a bad light, but I'm told that the atrocities depicted were based on true events. And "our" guys were not exactly made out to be angels, either. This movie had a few minor faults. I couldn't count all the guys knocked off running horses at preposterous ranges by shots fired from smoothbore flintlock pistols. The bit about the token black militiaman was a little sappy. And those British artillery crews needed to go back to gunnery school - what the heck were they doing? But overall I liked this movie and feel it is at least a decent effort in a badly neglected area. Why aren't there more modern movies about the American Revolution and the great leaders of that important era?
Rating:
Summary: The Patriot and the Film's Supporting Cast
Review: This was a wonderful film! Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger turned out great performances! However, the movie also had a great supporting cast! Tom Wilkinson did a perfect job as General Cornwallis. He was very good and played well against Mel Gibson. In fact, his scene with Mel Gibson is one of the most memorable in the film. Another actor who deserves a definite honorable mention is the actor who played General Cornwallis' second in command, Brigadier General O'Hara. The actor is Peter Woodward. His performance stands out in his many brief scenes because he comes across as a definite man of the period. He is very loyal to his superior and has the accent/dialect of a perfect gentleman. The only drawback to Peter Woodward's performance is that the audience did not get to see more of him! His character should have had more screen time! He was wonderful! Hopefully, we will see more of Tom Wilkinson and Peter Woodward in films with an historical setting. They are great in these movies! If you are interested in any of their other films that involve an historical setting, watch Tom Wilkinson in THE GOVERNESS and Peter Woodward in THE HOUSE OF ANGELO.
Rating: 
Summary: Changing My Mind
Review: I am a big Roland Emmerich fan - I am aware of his film's faults, but I have found them to be very sincere, charming & truly dazzling visually. I was VERY pumped to see The Patriot over the summer, but in the theater I found that I did not enjoy the film. I felt it was an ill-advised cross between Barry Lyndon & Die Hard-type action movies. Having watched it at home I am now beginning to develop a fascination with the film. It is much much better than I originally thought. I had missed many important details in the theater while mentally analysing the film. It actually makes good sense in terms of motivation. Each time I view the film I see more in it. Visually, it is truly stunning. It often looks just like paintings & illustrations from the Brandywine school of art - Howard Pyle & NC Wyeth particularly. The costumes are wonderfully detailed & tell stories themselves. The plot is, upon reflection, more interesting than it first seems. The film revolves around a man who has a capacity for terrible violence but who has tried to live a repentant life after commiting certain atrocities in the French-Indian War. He is now something of a pacifist. A sadistic British soldier crosses his path & gives the violent side of his personality a reason to emerge again. The story becomes a bloody tragedy ala King Lear etc... crossed with an heroic war epic & some light melodrama which is sometimes rather charming. In the end, the hero of the story rises above his own (satiated - or so he believes) thirst for revenge and becomes a part of the cause at hand - the American Revolution. The Patriot is far from perfect and contains three or four scenes of very stiff/weak drama that could easily be cut or replaced by better scenes (a few of the cut scenes are quite superior to some left in!) but The Patriot is worth getting to know. Think of it in terms of a Michael Curtiz historical swashbuckler.
Rating: 
Summary: Miserable
Review: If your buying this DVD as a gift, or if you haven't seen the film, I would strongly recommend that you rent it first. Unless you can detach yourself from the characters in the film, you will not enjoy it, because everybody suffers painfully. The films demographic is definitely male 18-35, with graphic violence, digitally generated imagery of arms, legs and even heads being blown off by cannons, and the depiction of the burning of helpless women and children. Although well acted this film is devoid of tenderness and many will feel they've just wasted 2 hours of their life watching it.
Rating:
Summary: The Patriot and Braveheart are D-i-f-f-e-r-e-n-t movies!!
Review: Why do you keep on comparing BraveHeart to the Patriot? Because Mel Gibson plays both? becuase they're both about war? In order to use right criteria, you must understand that these two are different movies, with different plots and different directors. Yes, I agree, Braveheart is better...but that doesn't mean this is bad. Mel Gibson's acting is awesome, and in some parts he is more realistic than in the whole Braveheart (for example, when Gabriel dies). The costumes and the scenarios are so realistic, the plot is awesome, the characters are very complete, the cast is good too, all this to the point where you actually get to hate Colonel Tavington and you want to borrow a sword and stabb him, that you actually want to cry (or you actually cry) when Benjamin Martin's (Mel Gibson) sons die. And it has also some remarkable war scenes (remember the part where that kid's head is blown away...was that realistic or what?). Other good reason to watch this movie is to see Lisa Brenner, one of the most beautiful women alive. What I do think was out of place was Martin's romance with his dead wife's sister; it just didn't fit, if they wanted that to happen, they should've followed that sub-plot since the beggining of the story, instead all they show you are fluttering looks wich end up with a corni kiss after she says: "I'm not my sister" . All in all, this is a very good movie, worth of watching (and buying), but you have to be open-minded and watch it without comparing it to Braveheart, in order to trully enjoy it. By the way, my actual rating is 4.5
Rating:
Summary: American Jigoism
Review: I watched this movie last night hoping to see a historical drama. What I got was typical American heroism and blatant use of children to spark Mel Gibsons character into a revenge seeking "patriot". I am not a student of warefare but I can not understand how soldiers can stand without flinching in the face of musket fire - were their lives not dear to them? On the jigoism theme - why are all bad guys (ie. anyone against American ideals) portrayed as inherintly evil - being set up throughout the entire movie to the expected finale with Mel Gibson where the villian will die a typical horrible death - oh yeah when the heroe has his back to him and is "definatly" going to be impaled but somehow does a miraculas turn and kills the villian. And theres the swamp meeting where after 1 weeks leave Mel Gibsons character and a couple of others are waiting for the others to turn up - and suddenly out of the swamp an eveyone arrives in perfect unison. Oh yeah and theres the requisit love interest "Ive known you all this time and had feelings for you" rubbish, which is thrown into the middle of the conflict. Oh yeah and theres the "all enlishmen are stupid" scene where mels character tricks them in swapping the prisoners for mannequins - wouldn't the english have sent someone to check them out? This film is littered with "the audience are idiots, lets role out a typical Hollywood movie disguised in a hisitrical setting". Throw in typical hollywood caritures like the really bad guy, the heroe protecting his family, cute kids in turmoil, the dead wifes sister as love interest, riduculas fight scenes (Mel with flag), the token black guy who bcomes matey with the guy who hated him earlier in the movie, the bullet melted to kill the villian etc etc. If you are an American patriot, enjoy. For eveyone else welcome to typical Hollywoodism dressed as a period piece from the 1700s.
Rating:
Summary: Spectacular special features and presentation
Review: The movie itself is very good (Yes, it has some resemblance to Braveheart, but several historical stories do). The thing that I was most impressed with on the DVD is the amount of time and effort in making a great visual presentation of their special features. There is movement, sound, and music involved with all of the different transition screens as well as interactive and very informative documentaries on how and why the movie was made. I buy DVD's instead of videos for all of the extras and this one definitely shows you why DVD is the way to go!
Rating: 
Summary: "Aim small, miss small"
Review: Well before seeing this film a lot of my movie-fanatic friends really tried to discourage me from watching it. Well I ended up buying the DVD instead because of that and I don't regret having done so. The movie carries a plot that's simply easy to follow, you don't have to be burying your head in history books to understand the storyline since I'm pretty sure 95% of it is fiction. Although it tried to go neck to neck with the movie lenght of "Braveheart" but all in all the movie was very entertaining, not as gory, but a medium sized "yikees" will definitely pop out from the audience. Plus the DVD info extras were so entertaining that I got to know a few history facts along the way.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent movie
Review: I'm not going to bog you down with the historic accuracy of this movie or whatnot, like others have done here. This is a movie, and it's meant to entertain you. As a movie, this is one excellent piece of work. Very moving, very exciting and very uplifting. The movie is a bit graphic at times (think Saving Private Ryan). The story itself is interesting and has depth. The scenery is well done, I felt like I was actually there. I don't want to get into the specifics as I don't want to spoil it for anyone. After watching this movie I did feel a bit of patriotism in me. The length of this movie justifies it, I wasn't bored for a second. This and Gladiator are definitely my favorite movies of 2000. Enjoy...
Rating:
Summary: A mixed bag; sometimes good, sometimes hokey!
Review: Sometimes a good actor can not save a movie from becoming just adequate (when it had the potential to be so much more); this is definitely the case with the movie, The Patriot VHS~ Mel Gibson. Gibson is tremendous in his depiction of the man, whom is thrown into an unwanted war, when the English kill his son. In fact, one can clearly see that he has become a better actor in the way that he tackles the character of his role and nowadays he becomes the role and one does not pay attention to the fact that Mel Gibson is the main actor; rather what one pays attention is that the character depiction is extremely strong and therefore very believable. However, there are some pretty bad scenes that make the movie feel a bit hokey, i.e., the kiss with his wife's sister and the finishing battle with the ultimate evil guy, i.e., the war loving brigadier, whom fights for the British (and whom was responsible for killing his son in the first place); these scenes make the movie act like an movie based on entertainment value, rather then a war movie which sticks to historical fact. It is a pity that these over blown scenes destroy a movie that otherwise could have become a classic; as it is, the movie, i.e., The Patriot VHS~ Mel Gibson ends up being merely all right when it could have been great.
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