Pros: rousing and very bloody action scenes; Mel Gibson is good; historical details on props, costumes , muskets and battle stagings fairly meticulous.
Cons: Historical fantasy, political correctness, cartoonish villians, cliche ridden corny script, pathetic attempts at humor, dull obvious romantic subplots
Welcome to the world of the modern epic–A world where history itself will be distorted to fit into a demographically audience tested action film formula while many of it's tiniest details are meticulously made as accurate as possible. It's not a documentary after all, it's a summer blockbuster from the genius' who brought us Independence Day, Godzilla, and 13th Floor. It's gotta be good. Right? We'll spin the American Revolution into part Rambo, part Outlaw Josie Wales and part Mad Max.
The previews made it look like Braveheart set during the American Revolution, right?. We'll get John Williams to score the thing at his pompous best. Mel Gibson will give us a really good performance, we'll have a romance or two, and then we'll make sure it's good and bloody too.
In fact if there was this much blood in a slasher film, it would be rated NC17. But, this is a big budgeted picture about a war, so, some splatterfest blood here and there is okay. Take a head off with a cannon ball? Sure. Let a child watch dad put an Ax into someone's forehead–oh it'll be fine. Gives the film an edge, don't you think? Sadism? Brutality? It's war, it's a big budget summer blockbuster. The ratings board won't NC17 it because nobody over-uses the F word or makes passionate love.
First some good news: I wasn't expecting a particular good film. I was expecting a revolutionary Braveheart mixed with some Titanic type romance. And the film pretty much delivers exactly that. It's not quite as utterly predictable as I thought it might be. It has a lot more gore and brutality than I was expecting and some very dark plot twists.
The not-so-good-news is: the film is also a lot more cornier and dumber than I thought it would be. Hard to believe that a film made today can be cornier, and sillier than films made 50 and 60 years ago. Well perhaps a lot of the cliche's and corn can be blamed on screenwriter Robert Rodat he certainly had practice being corny and sentimental with much of his script for Saving Private Ryan. And I can't say I was expecting a great deal of depth from the directing/producing team of Independence Day and Godzilla.
But the corn and sentimentality are just the beginning. The news gets worse.
I am not an African-American but I was very disappointed with how the slavery issues are all but ignored in a film set primarily in South Carolina. How the blacks who work for the lead character aren't slaves, ‘but work the land freely'. How it's the British who will enslave these supposedly free blacks and force them to fight for them for the promise of freedom if they survive and the British win. (In reality both sides promised slaves their freedom for fighting for them and it would be the last time the military was integrated in the U.S. until the Korean War.)
Even now in the year 2000, in what amounts to popcorn movies we feel the need to whitewash our history and turn our past into not just politically correct versions of history but utter historical fantasies. The Disney studios of the early 1960's would have given us a more accurate view of the South than this movie does. And it's not okay just because it's ultimately a dumb summer blockbuster movie, because a lot of people believe that at least parts of the film reflect with some accuracy what history must have been like. There is some truth to what occurs in the movie The Patriot and many will believe a lot of it is historically accurate.
There's a lot of period detail accurately on display in this film. Costumes were painstakingly recreated right down to the type of stitching they used back in the 1700's. Accurate historical detail is another matter all together. Mel Gibson plays Benjamin Martin, who is based loosely on a real character. But the inspiration for the character was a slave-owner and so obsessed with getting revenge on the British he used brutal tactics not just against the British but also in getting people to join his militia. There's no interest in that kind of accuracy and ambiguity here. This film is set up to be a summer blockbuster first and fore-most. The battle scenes are set up with a great deal of accuracy, but the characters aren't given any depth to speak up.
If you're looking for a big, sprawling, overly patriotic bit of inaccurate goo, this film will fit the bill nicely. There's some truly brutal and gory scenes on display here however. Mel G as Benjamin Martin will lose his cool and become Mad Martin, shooting and then chopping up British Soldiers until he's covered in blood. Wait till you hear his description of how he became a hero in the French -Indian Wars at a place called Fort Wilderness.
So as your groaning at the corny lines and wincing at the cliches, and shaking your head over the lame attempts at humor, you can rest assured you'll be treated to some spectacular, sometimes very bloody action sequences.
The chief villain is also loosely based on a real person. But here, he's made into a horrible, sadistic, nasty brute of a man who will shoot an unarmed 14 year old boy in cold blood in front of his father, and drag off the father's other son to be hanged. James Bond needs villains this cruel. Jason Isaacs professionally spits out the scenery he chews upon. He makes a good Snidely Whiplash of a villain. The fact his real life counterpart wasn't quite this despicable matters not to the film-makers. Making things as cartoonish as possible is what made them a ton of money with Independence Day, and they were hoping to strike gold again in a film about a different kind of Independence Day.
Actors like Joely Richardson and Chris Cooper and Rene Auberjonois aren't asked to do very much at all. They play their caricatured roles as convincingly as anyone could.
I suppose we should be grateful we have a film that is at least superior to the Al Pacino /Hugh Hudson stinker Revolution (1985). It is ... but that's not saying much at all.
The story here is one of revenge. Benjamin Martin (Gibson)has lost the love of his life and mother of his 6 children (or is it 7?). He's tending his farm, with the help of his non-slaves, and as a hobby tries to build rocking chairs. He's not very good at it.
Old friend, Chris Cooper, arrives in town, needing men to help fight off the British advancement until the French arrive with their reinforcements.
Benjamin Martin is not the blood thirsty brutal war hero he was during the French-Indian wars (though he still doesn't trust the French) and he does not want to go to war against the British and the famed military leader Cornwallis. Cornwallis and his men are advancing and winning against an out-armed American Army.
His elder sons 18 and 14, believe he is acting cowardly. In fact his 18 year old son joins up for service anyway. Benjamin realizes his son is a chip off the old block. There is no stopping him. Another son wants to join as well and Benjamin forbids it, at least until he is 16.
SPOILERS- SPOILERS- (KEY PLOT POINTS AND ACTION SCENES ARE DISCUSSED IN DETAIL) You may want to skip or skim this section. SPOILERS
His eldest son does join, and he survives a bloody battle, carrying important papers with him. He barely makes it back home alive. The British arrive a little while later. They arrest the son and are going to hang him. The 14 year old protests too loudly and is shot dead. The British burn down Ben's house, and kidnap all of the Non-slave black servants promising them freedom if they will fight with the British for a short period of time. The Blacks try to explain they are already free, but the British won't listen. They also order that all of the American force wounded (who are in the front yard of Ben's house) are killed and his house be burned to the ground.
As the house burns, Ben rushes inside and rescues his muskets and axe. He obviously intends on pursuing the British and fighting to get his son back. Ben has apparently been teaching his children to become sharp shooters with very inaccurate muskets. They attack the British in the woods and overcome them. Ben kills several with his bare hands and an axe as his children watch in horror. He saves his 18 year old son from a British hangmen's noose.
One British soldier will survive to make Benjamin into a legend with his story of THE GHOST–one man who defeated all of the soldiers. (Ben's kids were never seen as they shot from behind rocks and trees).
Taking his family to his ex- sister-in-laws palatial plantation (which she apparently runs herself with the help of many more non-slave African Americans). Ben and his son take on an assignment to form a militia of farmers and trappers to thwart the British advancement. Several of the men had served with Ben in the French-Indian War and consider him a hero. These ruffians are made to look and act like mountain men and pirates. Ben's son meanwhile has recruited some townspeople and farmers and even the local minister to fight for the cause of American freedom.
Yes there is a black man. One. One black man who fights along with Ben and his men. And at first some of the other people in the militia protest against fighting alongside this black man. Of course by the end of the film, he has earned their respect.
Ben's scrappy militia has had several successful confrontations with British Soldiers. He continues playing the cat and mouse game with the killer of his son and even meets Cornwallis himself face to face. He's played with almost delicious foppishness by Tom Wilkinson. It's another fun cartoonish characterization. Well at least it's not bland. Although Ben and his militia forces have slowed down the British Advance they certainly have not stopped them. Will it be possible to cause this professional experienced army to retreat back to Yorktown where (as we know from history) the French will arrive (at the end of September 1781) and help us defeat the British once and for all.
END OF SPOILERS.... END OF SPOILERS...
It's all pretty ridiculous stuff, done up with nice period detail. The film is another version of the tired revenge Action film formula. I suppose if you don't think too much about what you are watching and enjoy the accurate museum approved details you'll have a pretty good time with the film.
You'll thrill at the scene where Ben picks up an American flag his son has been repairing and leads a rag tag army against the British. You'll ignore how Ben is nearly killed, sliced open with a sword, and within a day or two is completely recovered and riding a horse again.
The film is loaded with corn and cliche's. It's offensive in how it knowingly distorts history, while being accurate in its little details. Make an action movie of the American Revolution if you want to, but don't pretend there were few slave owners among the Americans. And why must heroes in these films be nearly flawless? Doesn't anyone remember how interesting flawed characters and imperfect heroes are?
African Americans did fight in the American Revolution, for both the British and American sides. They were fighting because they had been forced to fight and were promised their freedom for doing so. Many did not receive their freedom, many others died. Without African Americans and the French, there probably would not have been an America as we know it today.
The film would have you believe that a character like Benjamin Martin was one of the primary reasons we won our independence from the Brits.
If you aren't burnt out on formula action films, The Patriot might be a satisfying diversion. If seeing some accurately staged battle scenes with historically accurately dressed extras is all you require from a film–this is the movie for you. Yes, Mel Gibson's performances is good enough to over-come some of the cliche's and corn-ball words he's forced to mouth. But there are too many lame attempts at humor that fall pathetically flat to completely exonerate his collusion in the making of this offensive film.
The DVD has quite a few extras including a director and producer commentary and a couple of behind the scene featurettes which detail the historical accuracy of the period details .
There's also a short segment showing how they digitally created hundreds of extras for the battle scenes, and how they blew a man's head off with a cannon ball. It's splatterific !!!!
I started listening to producer Dean Devlin and director Roland Emmerich's blow by blow commentary track on the DVD. Sometimes director , producer and actor commentaries can be quite interesting either from a technical film-making perspective or from a colorful behind the scenes story perspective. Sometimes the commentaries are very funny, sometimes they are very insightful and downright educational.
I knew this was not going to be one of the most memorable of commentaries when Devlin and Emmerich began by gushing unashamedly over their own company's logo at the beginning of the movie and how it was the best part of the film. A bad joke...because they are at least partially right-- maybe the logo is the best part of the film. I didn't listen to much of the commentary . I skipped to one of the battle scenes to listen to Roland and Dean describing exactly what we were already watching without any additional insight. That was enough for me. Perhaps other parts of the commentary are more interesting. I would hope so. You might think it's a bit unfair of me to rush to judgement on two and half hours worth of commentary based on my less then 30 minute sampling of it, but I figured I had already let the film-makers steal a lot of my time with their offensive film without letting them waste even more of it.
Rating: ** 1/2* as Mad Ben 1776
** as a Hollywood Historical epic
* overall value (historical inacuracies, and political correctness)
Chris Jarmick, Author (The Glass Cocoon with Serena F. Holder Available end of November 2000)
The emotionally charged adventure The Patriot tells the story of Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson), a reluctant hero who is swept into the American Revolut...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.