A solid truth. Men need tall-tales to give them hope and inspiration. Both are necessary. But to the point. You shouldn't take the vilification of certain British characters to heart.
Every story needs the bad-guy.
The main ingredient of a dramatic film is having a ruthless and cutthroat villain. I can assure you there is no conspiracy to brew up hatred of Britain in American movies. I think it is a mere coincidence that Mel Gibson did both these movies. But consider the following. Mel also vilified another country in one of his other big films.