Good entertainment, muddy history ** SOME SPOILERS **

Rating: 6/10 (1 July 2000)

Having read some of the reviews after seeing the movie, I would say that both the movie and the reviewers are lacking in knowledge of the American Revolution and its tactics. Does this mean you shouldn't enjoy The Patriot? Absolutely not. But it does mean that you should read your history to inoculate yourself from its ignorance.
The main character is a blend of two real-life South Carolina heroes, Francis Marion and Daniel Morgan. Why the filmmakers couldn't just do a movie of Marion, known as the Swamp Fox, is beyond me. The main antagonist, Colonel Tavington, is apparently supposed to be Banastre Tarleton, a rather obscure British commander whose name is still reviled in the South for his propensity to kill surrendering opponents, among other things. However, as far as I can tell, he never torched a church, with or without civilians inside. He often ran afoul of Marion's militia, who were extremely effective in disrupting British communications and were better organized and commanded than Gates' Continentals throughout most of the war.
Mel Gibson, as the blended Marion-Morgan figure Benjamin Martin, is effective in the role of a family man pushed into war by the maltreatment of his family (which didn't occur with either Marion or Morgan). Mel, please, can we find some other motivation than family members being maimed or killed? I mean, haven't you pretty much beat that to death in Mad Max, Road Warrior, Lethal Weapon 1 & 2, and Braveheart?
Heath Ledger follows up his good work in 10 Things I Hate About You with an excellent performance here as Martin's son Gabriel. Chris Cooper is also excellent as a colonel in the Continentals and an old comrade-in-arms. Most of the rest of the cast are solid but not spectacular, and political correctness abounds. The story gets pretty manipulative at points, but I felt the level of excellence from the featured performers overcomes this. It was very entertaining and I certainly felt it was worth my time (money wasn't an issue -- my son works for the cinema and gets me in for free!).
However, I will warn my British friends that they will NOT like the portrayal of British characters in this film, nor will they appreciate the attribution to them of the very real Nazi atrocity of burning a church down crowded with civilians.
The sad fact is that this unnecessary Hollywood muckraking will ruin this film's ultimate impact, especially since there are plenty of moving episodes in the American Revolution to build a real epic movie on. History is hard to squeeze into a two-hour format, but making crap up only increases the difficulty. When you set out to make a movie to remind Americans about the sacrifices our founding fathers endured to give us freedom, showering us with lies only serves to make us feel like fools for buying into it.
One wonders why Gibson wants to keep making films about historical figures that mangle the history that makes them interesting. One also wonders what project Gibson will take on next where he can fight brutal British tyranny. Unless he decides he wants to make Gandhi II -- He's Back and He's P***ed (apologies to Weird Al), this seems to be his last opportunity.