The Patriot

THE PATRIOT (15)

D: Roland Emmerich

Columbia / Centropolis / Mutual (Dean Devlin, Mark Gordon & Gary Levinsohn)

US 🇺🇸 2000

165 mins

War/Drama

W: Robert Rodat

DP: Caleb Deschanel

Ed: David Brenner & Julie Monroe

Mus: John Williams

Mel Gibson (Benjamin Martin), Joely Richardson (Charlotte Selton), Heath Ledger (Cpl. Gabriel Edward Martin), Lisa Brenner (Anne Patricia Howard), Jason Isaacs (Col. William Tavington), Chris Cooper (Brig. Gen. Harry Burwell)

The Patriot does exactly for the American Revolutionary War what Braveheart did for the First Scottish War of Independence. It’s fictionalised, dramatised, flag-waving  entertainment and certainly no history lesson.

Mel Gibson plays family man Benjamin Martin, who gets swept into the conflict along with eldest son after a brutal British Colonel murders one of his younger sons.

It practically is the same plot as Braveheart, with Gibson getting revenge against the English and though it does boast some beautiful cinematography & a rousing music score, this is just popcorn entertainment from a director who relies far too heavily on lazy stereotypes, rather than more nuanced character development.

6/10