Bleeds with themes, overdone drama, and domestic patriotism (and Braveheart).

Rating: 6/10 (24 February 2016)

I seem to share the general gripes about this movies flaws. Most of the issues that people seem to have with it relate to its being too reminiscent of Braveheart, over-demonizing Colonel Tavington, and making most of the characters anti-slavery even though that issue was not very pertinent during it's time frame or at its release. While I agree with all of these points and have further negative critiques to add to them, I was still able to somewhat enjoy and appreciate the long story of war and family. Despite its length, the story moves along at a reasonable pace, though it might have done better to shave off twenty minutes.
By personality, Benjamin Martin feels almost exactly like William Wallace, and I probably don't have to list all of the reasons why. Mel Gibson gives an almost identical performance apart from switching from a Scottish accent to a less convincing American accent. I'm not entirely sure what Martin's arc is from beginning to end. Clearly he becomes more patriotic as a result of his sons' ardent patriotism, but it's hard to tell if he goes to war out of pure vengeance or because he believes in the cause. He never seems to renounce his old patriotism in which he sees his nation as having potential for flaws. However, considering how Roland Emerich glorifies his presidential characters in 2012 and Independence Day, it's probably a safe bet that Martin now identifies as an ardent American. Colonel Tavington is introduced from the start as a despicable villain, which is not a problem in itself. There are similarly detestable antagonists that are considered some of the greatest bad guys in fiction. However, Tavington's motives are never stated, making him seem more like those Disney villains that were just born evil. Also, his defiance of Cornwallis rules out the possibility of his being a representation of the the entire British army. So while his ongoing battle with the Martin family works well for the story, it is sort of an empty battle in our eyes. Gabriel is the character that we are meant to like and agree with the most due to his youthful energy and zeal. He sees his safety as inferior to his honor and national pride. Ultimately it is what does him in, though he likely would have died for his country if given the option. There are a lot of minor characters, most of whom I thought were written poorly. They add very little to the story and are not well developed even though they are given more screen time than minor parts typically get. I particularly disliked Benjamin's ten-year-old son Nathan, but that was more for his bratty arrogance than the way he was written. Colonel Harry Burwell (Chris Cooper) was probably the best written of all the minor characters and easily had the most overall importance to the plot.
The story is, again, very similar to that of Braveheart with the inclusion of a full-on villain and a reluctant protagonist. There are a few subplots that transpire away from the battlefield involving the Martin family, Gabriel's pursuit of love, and Benjamin's command over his soldiers. There is an overriding theme of loss throughout, but I think it gets overdone. Killing off characters that we have come to love is one thing, but we can only feel the other characters loss to a point. That point was well exceeded here. Sure I sympathized with Benjamin's various losses, but after a while I just stopped caring.
The audio and visual effects were good enough that I could appreciate them even fifteen years out of context. Apart from that, the execution was not praiseworthy. The directing and camera-work, while dramatic, did not come off as very striking, and much of it was pretty standard. The acting had no glaring problems, but neither was it impressive. The script was well paced, but the dialogue was too dramatic and had far too many instances of characters ending a conversation by storming off and throwing back a scathing remark or glance.
There is a pretty good amount of violence, and some of it is meant to be exciting some to be gruesome. There are some intelligent battle tactics involved, and this should also be reminiscent of Braveheart. The runtime could easily be boring to those who don't like long movies since the content is not of the same caliber as some other long epics. I know much of my review has been negative, but there are some good themes involving family and acceptable behavior during war. None of these resonated with me, but that doesn't reduce their value. Overall Rating: 7.2/10.