The Patriot meanders down the paths of too many subplots, which detract from the film's main action.

Rating: 5/10 (30 August 2010)

The film has a flag-waving dumbness at its core. After one of his sons is killed and another wounded in the War of Independence, a plantation owner (Mel Gibson) in America's South seeks revenge on the British colonel (Jason Isaacs) responsible.
The Patriot is a regrettable period drama which rewrites or ignores huge swathes of history for its own ends, and reduces the complex politics of secession to a petty vengeance drama; it's not helped by Gibson's humourless, heavy-handed screen presence and an insanely long running time. The score was composed by John Williams, and was nominated for an Academy Award.