Not too bad, but...

Rating: Null/10 (12 July 2000)

Not being an American, I really didn't care about the premise for the movie; rather, I watched it for the same reason I watch most movies: direction, acting, etc. Roland Emmerich is not my favourite director, but his work shines through here. Excellent camera work and well-developed shots make the film visually stunning. Mel Gibson does Braveheart a few hundred years after the original, and does well. Heath Ledger I cannot stand after his annoying performance in Ten Things I Hate About You, and I was not keen on him in this film either. All in all, this was a tolerable body of work, except for one glaring annoyance that drove me nuts throughout the film.
At the time of the American Revolution, there wasn't really such a thing as an "American accent" as most people still had full, or at least residual, British accents. However, all the Americans spoke with a modern-day American accent. I suppose this was historic license so that the bottom-of-the-barrel moviegoers would be able to easily identify the "good guys" from the "bad guys." To the person who decided to make the movie this way: Give the audience some credit, and go for as historically accurate a work as you can.
Overall: 7 out of 10. Don't rush to see it, but definitely tack it onto your "To See" list.