Seems like two movies stuck together

Rating: Null/10 (17 January 2001)

I shall be brief with "The Patriot," a cross between "Saving Private Ryan" and "Braveheart" in the Revolutionary War. It seems like two different movies stuck together: One is a serious, if typical Hollywood war film about a fictitious character parading around trying to make the country free. Though it is fictitional, it works thanks to great battle scenes and an excellent Mel Gibson. While it is impossible and foolish to view it as a serious movie about the horrors of war, it works as a by-the-numbers adventure story, and I found it enjoyable viewing( though it is loaded with cliched material, i.e.: there's always the tolkien black man fighting for his freedom, ever since "Glory," a much better war movie, made it famous, though "The Patriot" hardly takes such an important subject as seriously as it should be taken).
The other part is not so gratifying. Some scenes seem downright cartoonish, and not appropriate for a film that is intended to be taken as seriously as this one claims to be. The scene where Mel Gibson, in an effort to recruit men for his malitia, explains, "God save King George," only to and knives thrown at him is enjoyable enough, but it plays too much like a Bugs Bunny/Elmer Fudd cartoon to be shown here. There are also a few scenes which play like a bad TV-movie, especially those which take place in the church where Heath Ledger's character goes recruiting for soldiers in a church. Those scenes were predictable and corny. That plus the fact that Ledger's girlfriend was a horrible actress, on the level of a guest star in a bad "Christie" episode.
So here's what we have: An excellently-produced and well-acted drama using the Revolutionary War as a backdrop fused with often cliched subplots and scenes which are too goofy and not serious enough. Hence, it's hard to tell what this film is trying to be: Campy or emotionally charged. For this reason, it lumbers when it should soar, and it is disappointing where it should be outstanding.
**1/2 out of ****