Where's the giant lizard?

Rating: 7/10 (2 July 2000)

I can't believe it. Are Devlin and Emmerich going legit on us? Well, no, not really. Finally, a movie with more patriotism and flag-waving than Independance Day (or ID4 to those with short attention spans), I didn't think that was possible.
This is Mel Gibson's American stop on his 'Free the Planet From the English' tour. Let's see, we have Scotland, America... now if only he could free us Canadians from the tyranical rule of the monarchy! Now that's a movie! Him and Bob and Doug McKenzie, drinking beer and fighting the English! He's an Aussie, you know?
Okay, I'll try to control myself. Mel plays a cheeky fellow who gets mad and goes on a killing spree (what, again? how many killing sprees can this guy go on?). That's what we want to see, and that's what we get, so in that sense the movie works. Sure, the fight scenes aren't as entertaining as Braveheart or as thrilling as Last of the Mohicans, the battles aren't as well choreographed as they could be, but it's fun non the less. I know it's the period, but there is something very dull about a bunch of soldiers standing in a row waiting for bullets to hit them (some of them just looked sleepy, "Oh, is it my turn to fall down now?"). Almost hard to believe wars were ever fought like that.
Col. Tavington (Isaacs) is a lot of fun as the villian, and I hope to see more of him (I only remember him from Event Horizon and a bit part in Armegeddon). He's a nasty little poofter, yes he is. Mel hates him because he slowly roasts and eats Mel's children before his very eyes (no, he didn't do that. He's evil, just not Mike Tyson evil). Mel gets revenge though when he beats him to death with an American flag (again, not quite, but almost). The rest of the performances were all cardboard. When there wasn't a battle going on I didn't care much for what was happening on screen. Sorry, it just didn't stir my emotions, move me, or do much of anything to engage me, not matter how hard it tried.
This was written by Robert Rodat of Saving Private Ryan fame? I guess Ryan was one of those rare cases where having a dozen ghost writers actually worked, because this has none of the emotional impact of Ryan.
I know, I'm making it sound much worse than it is. It's actually pretty entertaining, and it will be a great fourth of July weekend flick for the Yanks. I really get the feeling that I would have enjoyed it more if I was an American. 7/10 stars. G'night!