And yet The Patriot represents the first high-profile Revolutionary War movie given to us since the unforgivable Al Pacino outing Revolution , which was a good fifteen years ago. The results, however, were dismaying. He hugs his kids and heads to the garage to finish work on a rocking chair. He puts the chair on the ground, cliched overexposed lighting and diffusion fluid floating through the air for that smoky 1776 atmosphere, and looks at the chair hesitantly. He sits down and it does indeed fall apart.
Martin tosses the chair into the corner next to several other collapsed rocking chairs.
And this terribly obvious comic scene is our introduction to Martin's character. And Martin objects, citing some platitudes from the Libertarian party newsletter about property, oppressive government, etc. But South Carolina goes to war anyway. Then it's Death Wish time. Gibson puts guns into his kids' hands and manages to knock off twenty British officers, running in slow motion as squibs explode from birches.