Main characters? Sappy and Cheesy.

Rating: 3/10 (7 August 2000)

Sorry folks. A clearer case of "bummer" I have never seen. This film takes on an unbelievable air of self-righteousness, and the cheesy staring, the sappy one-liners and the awfully narcissistic view of the world is just barely contained. It is not an awful film, but it's very far from good. It reaches an embarrassing 3 on my scale.
The problem is not the actors. I can't stress that enough. They all do very well in their respective roles. Mel Gibson is, as always, beyond any criticism - his range of furious anger all the way down to heart broken sorrow is impressive. There is simply no one who cries like he on screen. And his mad gaze would give even Clint Eastwood a real scare.
Neither is it the story itself, although it seems a bit empty to me. It works well, and is believable, despite the fact that this movie suffers from not being true.
It is the abundant sorrow, the dropping of awfully cheesy comments and the depiction of the patriots as the only good guys, when in fact they behave almost as badly as do the British. That they wave American flags I have no problem with, it is after all the war for American independence. There were probably a lot more flag waving going on than shown here. But why oh why does Hollywood see the need to emphasize so much on the lone hero, his sorrows, his strong beliefs and his almost unsurpassed cleverness? It's cheesy. I'm sorry, but I really feel it is.
The theme is so abundant in the Hollywood movie business, it's almost scary. There are literally hundreds of movies with almost the exact same plot, same feeling and the same heroics. I for one am getting tired, so maybe I should stop seeing movies that are clearly of the same breed.
Well...I guess it works well with Americans. But as a European, I must say that this angle is getting tiresome. There is nothing new in this movie. Nothing that hasn't been done before, dozens of times. In fact, both the plot and some scenes are very reminiscent of "Braveheart". And that film was a LOT better. Maybe because Gibson himself directed it, instead of "Mr. Independence Day" - the director most prone to American cheesiness. Hmm...maybe that's why he was picked?