Mostly Violently Entertaining for History Buffs, But Has Some Big Problems

Rating: 6/10 (21 December 2005)

I was a big fan of "Swamp Fox" during the Mickey Mouse Club, so I enjoyed most of "The Patriot. "
But the 25% I didn't, I really didn't, i.e. the happy darkies (even if they managed to find historically accurate ones on the Gullah Islands, making Mel Gibson a Carolina up-country farmer--an extremely, atypically prosperous one, instead of a slave-owning plantationist). Conflating the Brits with the S.S. is awful (read Schlink's The Reader for a discussion of the ramifications of the same S.S.'s tactics.)
Heath Ledger was really cute, though I'm not sure he really came across as a passionate idealist (I read an article that he was nervous as hell working with Gibson as his idol and I think that showed).
Why is Gibson always pairing up with much younger women? Joely Richardson as his wife's sister must have been barely older than his "son" -- and what is that a baby she's carrying around at the end?
It's always nice to see Chris Cooper; he's a rock.
This is definitely for those of us who like historical fiction. It reminded me of "Barry Lyndon" and the "Sharpe" series, which are both more thoughtful, deep, and better done. Only towards the end are the dramatic possibilities of the non-repeating, takes time to re-load muskets used whereas that's glossed over for most of the movie, probably on the assumption that Americans are used to more rapid-fire violence, and this is as violent as "Gladiator."
The mattes of backgrounds were used very effectively, particularly of the harbor and battle scenes.
John Williams's bombastic music is awful. I kept wishing that Mark O'Connor had done the score and then blimey it turned out he did the violin solos, the only good parts of the score.
(originally written 7/15/2000)