A Rousing, Well Made War Film

Rating: 8/10 (8 May 2001)

A compelling Revolutionary War epic, "The Patriot" largely succeeds because of Mel Gibson's impassioned portrait of Benjamin Martin, a former warrior who's chosen a peaceful life with his family, but is called back into service when things around him begin to fall apart. The most riveting part of the movie is Martin's dark past and what drive's him to do what he does when he once again takes up arms. This results in a grisly, horrific passage that speaks to the horrors of war. This is extremely effective and harrowing. Robert Rodat, who wrote "Saving Private Ryan" knows what he's doing when it comes to portraying the darkness of war.
Also adding to the film are yet another great film score by John Williams, who, with each score he writes, shows today's young composers how the job should be done. Plus, the film looks gorgeous, thanks to Caleb Deschanel, easily one of our best cinematographers.
The one element that doesn't work as well is the character of Colonel Tavington, who's extremely brutal in everything he does. This means a villain who seems to be from a different movie, one of those snarling types who's only role in the movie is to do evil. While there are plenty of evil humans in this world, they usually don't make endless pronouncements about it or have a sole purpose in life to constantly try to see how they can top one brutal act with another. This kind of drags the well-crafted movie into "Lethal Weapon" territory, and into a slightly cartoonish realm.
Ignore this element, however, and you have a very good movie. The film comes from Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin (who, of course, did "Independence Day"). It comes as a surprise, then, that they would make this film. But they do a good job and "The Patriot" is the result, a rousing, well made film that is a great tribute to all of the courageous, dedicated people who fought for and founded our country.