Fun, but mediocre, cliched & often unbelievable

Rating: Null/10 (16 May 2001)

I watched "The Patriot" expecting an epic --- something along the lines of "Braveheart" or "Last of the Mohicans". I left the theater feeling perplexed. It was still a fun movie, but it's far from being a "good" one. "Mediocre" and "cliched" are the best words to describe this movie.
There were parts of the film that were simply unbelievable. You can't take a film seriously if it shows you 1 man and 2 children (8 yrs & under) annihilate over 20 trained British Soldiers. The movie is ridden with cliches. Evil bad guys hunting down innocent children. Children outsmart trained military officers. The Person You Thought Was Killed But Really Wasn't.
Too many characters in the film are portrayed as one-dimensional caricatures. The sadistic villain is about as believable as Dr.Evil from Austin Powers. Seriously --- he's so evil, it's cartoonish. He enjoys shooting little boys in the back while repeatedly tounting him "Stuuupid boy!" He likes to burn churches, execute innocent slaves, and kill all the women & children in a town. He takes great pleasure in trash talking his enemies while he's killing them.
I felt sorry for the African American actor in the movie. He's a talented actor I've seen in other shows, like "The Rock" or "The X-Files". Unfortunately, in "The Patriot" he's given the thankless role of "token black guy". He's got not much to do, not much to say. His role felt like it was tacked on in the last minute. You *literally* could've cut out all his scenes and it WOULD NOT CHANGE THE MOVIE one bit.
Basically, Roger Ebert said it best when he wrote that British officers in the movie come in two flavors: Stupid but Gentlemanly, or downright sadistic. Americans also come in two flavors: Brave, and Braver. That's how much depth this film has.
I rate this 2.5 out of 10. It probably deserves 5.0 as a fun movie, but only 2.5 as an epic 2 1/2 hour movie.