Children are better writers...

Rating: 3/10 (29 June 2000)

If this is what the industry planned as the movie offering of the summer, they should return to the drawing board and promptly proceed to maim themselves with said board.
Mel Gibson is a wonderful talent and his skills are impressive in spite of the poor writing and weak story line. This movie goes from a simple minded mentality, to bouts with epic stature, back to childishness, then returning to quality film making. My first sign that this was nowhere near as epic as Braveheart was when he quotes the often remembered "No taxation without representation." That was a signal reminiscent of the iceberg as a signal to the Titanic! This line was poorly executed and even more poorly placed in the movie. A blasé attempt to recapture a moment in time. The second instance of pure garbage comes when Charlotte says "It's a free country" as he sits beside her. That was above and beyond the call of duty. All alive on the moron front. Pure, unadulterated tripe. Gibson is quality, Ledger is quality, but the writing pushed this movie from what it could have been, into a steaming pile of pseudo revolutionary history riddled with poor clichés and predictable characters. Jason Issacs was the only saving grace as the dastardly Col. Tavington. He was riveting and powerful as a man with true intent and vision.
You never even felt that Gibson wanted to fight until the end and the mindless waving of too many colonial flags was over the top and unnecessary. Using the flag as a spear was also a terrible and expected touch. Fight scenes were excellent as well.
I consider myself a devoted American and hoped for more than I was given. It was neither powerful, nor does it merit further reflection. Long live Gladiator!