The Americans Play With History Again

Rating: Null/10 (31 July 2000)

The Patriot was, for me, one of the most cliched and jingoistic films to hit the screens in years. After suffering the indignities of Emmerich and Devlin's pathetic Independence Day and Godzilla, The Patriot truly is an aberration. I have no problem with Mel Gibson, as I thought that Braveheart was actually a very engaging epic, but here he proves that his range is rather limited. Surprisingly, screenwriter Robert Rodat was responsible for the far superior Saving Private Ryan. The battle scenes do look impressive but that doesn't make up for the historical inaccuracies (the English soldier played by Jason Isaacs in history led a gang of brutal murdering AMERICAN Loyalists and the idea that black people who worked on a plantation or farm would not be slaves in 1776 is a laughable one) and telegraphed plot. From the very beginning, you know how the film is going to proceed. Gibson's attempts at emotion look ridiculous and overwrought and ironically, only the British actors, especially Jason Isaacs, manage to get anything out of this. The British were responsible for atrocities while they occupied the USA, there's no denying that, but this is such a one sided film that it really made me angry.