Poor and Predictable

Rating: Null/10 (30 August 2000)

Set in the revolutionary year of 1776, this movie starts promisingly as it depicts a profound change that a farmer and father of seven kids must go through to become a warrior.
However, it very soon deteriorates into a series of "deplorable atrocity, gory revenge, worse atrocity, worse revenge," down to the final wide-screen butchery.
"The Patriot" features all the hallmarks of Hollywood:

Small Kids May Not Be Hurt In a Movie

Obliging Negro Saves a White Man And Earns Respect

The Main Two Antagonists Will Find Each Other Among Thousands of Fighting Soldiers

Using cliche scenes between carnages, "The Patriot" oscillates between mildly amusing to thoroughly silly. The main character muses about how deplorable was the man who killed his son in a fair man-to-man combat in a war situation. The same character mercilessly slays dozens of enemy soldiers, who also must have parents grieving for them.
Both Mel Gibson and his opponent played by Jason Isaacs give very good performances. True to the story they play black-and-white characters quite effectively.
It should be noted that atrocities shown in this film were never actually commited by the British during the Revolution. That is however a minor fault compared to thorough predictability of the plot. Some people will take the movie seriously but I must say that the audience in our theatre laughed quite hard at some scenes.
The Patriot is horribly conventional and a poor entertainment. Unless you like high-testosterone revenge&carnage, seeing it is a waste of time and money.