No classic but well done

Rating: 7/10 (30 June 2000)

Mel Gibson's latest,The Patriot,is a generally engrossing well-mounted spectacle that falls a little short of being great but is still very good filmmaking.Filled with some spectacular battle scenes,brave heroes,snivelling villains,a little romance and a bit of cornball sentiment its the (near)perfect summer movie.Whether it's good history seems to be a matter of debate.Well,who cares?Gibson gives one of his best performances as a plantation owner whose family becomes caught up,against his best efforts,in the revolutionary war of 1776.The rest of the cast is equally good particularly Tom Wilkinson as Cornwallis and especially Jason Isaacs as Col. Tavington,possibly the most evil and sadistic character I've seen on screen for a long time.I wanterd to reach up on the screen and strangle him myself.Photography,score,sets,costumes are all topnotch as you'd expect for this kind of thing(considering the budget,they should be)If perhaps you're left feeling a bit manipulated,well so be it.It's a popcorn movie after all.Highly recommended.Rating?8/10.