Cheese Anyone?

Rating: 5/10 (21 July 2000)

A movie that could've been so much better than it's final incarnation, The Patriot just manages to be decent summer movie entertainment. An overpatriotic cliche-burdened work hidden under violence and "serious movie" colors, the movie demonstrates the same naive flagwaving attitude as the director's previous Independence Day. Mel Gibson remains the movie's sole strong-point, bringing to life an otherwise formulaic "nice-guy slaveowner" character. And, oh the formulaic characters: the motley band of rebel rousing goodguys, the stoic black slave who in the end wins the friendship of the hokey cracker, they're all here. A decent melodrama if you try not to think too hard in the theater, The Patriot is too contrived in too many places to be taken seriously.