Hardly a Braveheart, but a worthy film nonetheless.

Rating: Null/10 (23 October 2001)

I'm pretty sure of what the makers of this film were trying to achieve here and it falls well short. Their goal of course was to make a bigger, better version of Braveheart.
This film which made one reviewer 'proud to be an American' is about Benjamin Martin, 'legendary' hero of the war of Independence. The movie tells the story of Martin's relationship with his sons, most notably the eldest one Gabrielle, as they fight in the battle to free America from the tyranies of the British Empire. Eventually Benjamin's heroic exploits come to the attention of the ruthless Colonel Tavington (Britain's finest Jason Isaacs) who is the films antihero.
You can argue all you want about the Patriot and Braveheart being totally different films but let's face it, there are many obvious similarities. Firstly they both star Mel Gibson playing a patriotic warrior fighting to free his land from the English. In both films Gibson's character is reluctant to go to war until the life of a loved one is taken, and also in both Gibson plays a brilliant but unconventional leader. Having explained my somewhat whiny sounding opinion I will now try to talk about the film on its merits.
There are several great moments, one of the best being when Martin walks into a bar to recruit men for the infantry and yells out 'Long live King George!'. The scene where Martin single handedly takes out a convoy of British soldiers who are about to execute his son is one that will long live in my memory. The direction is nothing you wouldn't expect from the Hollywood epic, but it is the performances of Gibson and Isaacs which make this film a standout.
The battle scenes take turns at being well done and annoyingly overdone. The big battle near the end of the film is very well done, but sadly they couldn't resist the temptation to put in a schmatlzy Hollywood ending where Gibson's character gets the girl.
Overall I must admit that this is a very good movie with more than a reasonable share of blood and guts and enough character development to look past the flag waving and appreciate a great movie. 8 out of 10.