Ridiculous movie!!

Rating: 4/10 (21 February 2008)

I am extremely disappointed in this movie. It had so much potential but somehow the movie became utter rubbish around the 1/2 way mark. There is way too much cheesy dialog and moments in this movie. I guess I am one of those that expects some degree of realism when I see movies, especially movies such as these that like to themselves seriously (big name stars, story based on arguably the most imp time period in America, etc). I think only a fraction of the movie is based on actual historical facts. There is way too much 'in your face' bravado and 'patriotism'. I agree with some reviewers that the way the slaves were portrayed was a joke. Given that this is set in the late 1700's and in the South, there seemed to be a lot of 'acceptance' of them. Mel Gibson couldn't decide if he should play this movie seriously or tongue-in-cheek and that indecision comes through quite openly. This says a lot about the director too. I saw another one of Roland Emmerich's movie - Stargate, which I thought was utter trash too. Joely Richardson is intolerable as the 'aunt'/'stepmom-to-be' (go figure!). She showed absolutely 0 emotion throughout the movie. She shares equal honors on that front with Chris Cooper, who somehow keeps disappearing and re-surfacing throughout the movie. Heath Ledger and Tom Wilkinson were quite good in the movie, while Isaacs was below average and very one-dimensional. The one main thing that made me feel disgusted about this movie was the lack of emotion in the main characters when their near and dear ones are murdered by Col.Tavington (Isaac's character) at various times in the movie. The costumes and cinematography were the other redeeming features in this movie. All in all, I feel bad wasting my time on this movie, but maybe there are others who are looking for brainless fun (and think this movie is great) that might enjoy this movie.