kindergarten history

Rating: 3/10 (26 December 2010)

Samuel Johnson was right when he identified patriotism as the last refuge of a scoundrel, and the proof is in this cartoon call to arms from the makers of 'Independence Day' and the Hollywood remake of 'Godzilla'. The film is a bubblegum whitewash of early American history, with all the misguided crowd-pleasing appeal of an Armed Forces recruitment ad, casting Mel Gibson as a conscientious objector (in screen vernacular always the next worse thing to an outright sissy) who rediscovers the moral rewards of deep commitment during the Revolutionary War, mostly by slaughtering half the Redcoats in New England. Screenwriter Robert Rodat waves the flag more stridently here than in his previous 'Saving Private Ryan', helping Gibson to shed his pacifism by presenting him with an adversary (British colonel Jason Isaacs) so evil and sadistic that even his own troops despise him (and later impaling the villain directly onto the Stars and Stripes, in a particularly grisly bit of low-brow propaganda).
The story invites obvious comparisons with Gibson's own Oscar winning 'Braveheart', but despite the quality of the production (and the transparent self-importance of its epic 160+ minute running time) the film is still little more than a prestigious vendetta drama, on the same emotional and intellectual level as any Charles Bronson 'Deathwish' scenario. Ace cinematographer Caleb Deschanel provides the fabulous scenery, and then newcomer Heath Ledger valiantly takes up the matinée idol torch passed to him by his on-screen father (and fellow Aussie heartthrob) Gibson.