Identity crisis

Rating: 7/10 (30 July 2000)

The Patriot has been described, rather prematurely, as an american Braveheart. While The Patriot is nothing like Braveheart, it is still far from the greatness of that movie. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad movie, just flawed in two very annoying story elements. The first is death. I won't say who dies, but there are a lot of key characters killed off. So many, in fact, that I stopped caring after a while. The other problem is the biggie. The filmmakers, apparantly, couldn't figure out what type of movie they wanted to make. There are revenge movies, like Gladiator. There are movies about wars, like Saving Private Ryan. The Patriot seems to want to be both of these movies at the same time. The lead character vows revenge on a british soldier. This is a movie on its own. However, they try to place american history in very inconvenient places. I couldn't figure out if the movie was made to show Mel Gibson's character, or to give an insight into the American Revolution.
The Patriot isn't that bad though, and it has its strong points. Mel Gibson gives another stunning performance as our hero. He seems to posses the same drive that allowed him to play William Wallace. Heath Ledger shows that he is ready for the spotlight with his role as the rebellious son. Jason Isaacs is one of the best villains in a year with all kinds of great villains, such as Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator, and the storm in The Perfect Storm. The Patriot is a three star movie, which is too bad. It had some great potential.