"Braveheart in Breeches"

Rating: Null/10 (28 April 2004)

THE PATRIOT (2000) *** Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Joely Richardson, Jason Isaacs, Chris Cooper, Tcheky Karyo, Rene Auberjonois, Lisa Brenner, Donal Logue, Tom Wilkinson, Leon Rippy, Adam Baldwin, Gregory Smith, Mika Boorem, Skye McCole Bartusiak, Trevor Morgan, Joey D. Vieira, Jay Arlen Jones.
'Braveheart in Breeches' or a prequel to 'Independence Day' could've been the pitch made by filmmakers Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin with this rip roaring period piece tailor-made for Gibson in Mad Mel mode. Gibson gives another compellingly, macho yet vulnerable turn this time as a former soldier turned furniture maker family man whose decision not to fight in The Amercian Revolutionary War circa 1776 (that's the spirit!) costs him dearly as his eldest, headstrong son (new heartthrob Ledger who holds his own) enlists to embattle the redcoats only for them both to regret their respective decisions. With his family endangered and his good name thrashed through the proverbial mud, Mel gets Mad and eyes for revenge in the form of his newest nemesis (Isaacs hissably evil adding himself to the great pantheon of Eurotrash villainy including Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber in'Die Hard' and Ralph Fiennes in 'Schindler's List', and my vote for Darth Vader in the final chapter of the 'Star Wars' prequel trilogy, by the way!), which inevitably leads to bloodletting of those wig-wearing, crumpet monkeys (read: the King's army!) Could have used some trimming but why gripe although Robert Rodat's screenplay gleans from his own 'Saving Private Ryan' (in some gnarly battle sequences  dig that cannonball scene! YEAHH!) and 'The Last of the Mohicans'. Exquisitely gorgeous cinematography by vet Caleb Daschenel and a stirring score by old pro John Williams sets the jerry-rigged, crowd-pleasing epic into motion.