one of the worst big budget movies I've seen in awhile

Rating: 4/10 (24 January 2002)

Historically accurate or not, this movie stunk. When it first came out in the theater I was looking forward to seeing it because The Revolutionary War is a very interesting subject and hasn't been adressed on film. Then I found out Mel Gibson was the star and it seemed like a sure thing. But to my shock and disappointment I found out Roland Emmerlickme of Godzilla, Independence Day and Stargate was directing it. So I waited for DVD and I got what I expected, I pile of cliche-ridden fecal matter.
I'm an American but I didn't need to be force fed how bad the British were. They should have put scrolling text on the bottom of the screen reminding anyone watching who forgot "remember people: American=good, British=bad". Forgot? Ok lets go burn some women and children. Let's make the villain as ridiculously inhuman as possible, as if this is a fun James Bond movie.
Some people have complained about how the subject of slavery was treated, and I see where they're coming from. However slavery is so immense it needs it's own movie, you can't possibly adequately address it here so I understand why Roland only threw in a few token moments. Unfortunately those few moments were ridiculous anyway.
Good points: Gibson was good and the cinematography was beautiful.
The Patriot was long, tedious, cringe-inducing, and did not make me feel Patriotic in the least. Roland go make a German movie and leave the flag waving to us Americans.