The Patriot

My review, from <a href=http://pub4.ezboard.com/bnicktheshadow>my board</a>:

JUST TELL ME IF IT'S GOOD OR BAD

Flawed, but excellent.

PROS

Everyone who knows my movie-watching habits well knows that I'm a sucker for epics. Hell, I was one of the few people who loved The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc.

As a matter of fact, when I think about how this film measures up to other films I've seen in the past, The Messenger is the one that I correlate it to the most. It is flawed throughout, but that does not stop it from being deeply meaningful as well as artistically meritable. And most of all, it tells a long, sweeping dramatic story without utterly boring the audience.

At the beginning of the film, when it skips from the beginning of the Revolutionary War to a few years into the conflict, my immediate impression was that in terms of pacing, this film was dead in the water. I was soon proven wrong. From that point on, up until a few minutes from the end, this film is paced wonderfully. It is certainly a long film - 165 minutes - but the whole story is told, and that is what is important.

There is much gore in this film, but it is all used properly for the intended dramatic effect. While on this note, I would like to mention in particular the scene where two of Benjamin Martin (the main character, portrayed by Mel Gibson) 's pre-pubescent sons are involved. Without spoiling the scene too much, not only does the audience see these little boys kill... but onscreen, the boys see their father in a fit of rage as a brutal murderer, hacking away at a redcoat soldier with a tomahawk. The effect is chilling. Although the film loses a great deal of its emotional power as it runs its course, in the last third of the film it picks it up again, when the villain, Colonel Tavington (Jason Isaacs) takes the image of a cold, bloodthirsty officer the audience already has of him from the first part of the film, and amplifies it tenfold. It is from that point on that The Patriot stops being a gory period drama and becomes fully depressing in nature. The sadness that comes with death is no longer restricted to named, established characters - the deaths of ordinary citizens, "extras" in the film, become significant.

The screenplay is rather solid, although it does not exactly include the most memorable dialogue ever, and is not particularly quotable. As a result, this is not a film worth attempting to memorize line by line like the other period epic this year, Gladiator. The acting is fairly good from the main cast, particularly Gibson and Isaacs, but slackens in the minor roles - this may be a problem with the screenplay more than the actors, but sometimes the difference is rather vague.

The father-son relationship that is probably most recognizable as the base of the entire story of The Patriot works extremely well. It does not even compare to the greatest father-son film of all time (well, two films together, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) but the relationship is there, and it is defined superbly.

The musical score, by John Williams, is best compared to Williams' work on Born on the Fourth of July - solo trumpet lines and a string choir. Although a melody is distinguishable, it is not one of the great Williams scores. Generally, if you liked the score to Born on the Fourth of July, you'll like the score to The Patriot. I did not care for it much, although it supports the film and does not detract from its mood. This one time in a blue moon, I would say that John Williams has been clearly bested by what I find to be the most powerful, sweeping score yet this year - Hans Zimmer's music in Gladiator.

Artistically, the film is good. The wide shots of hundreds upon hundreds of men marching on the open field are effective, and gives the audience a sense of grandeur and epic quality. The costume design was also commendable. The photography and editing is generally average and ho-hum, but does not stick out like a sore thumb. All these elements come together in the final battle, which I must admit is quite a great battle indeed, and may well be the one area in which The Patriot surpasses Gladiator; but that comparison is not definite, as the battle Gladiator was photographed better and also had a very powerful and exciting battle theme in the background.

CONS

I will start with my biggest peeve about this film. There is a scene in The Patriot that is laughably cheesy, and almost acts as the sole factor that reduces this film from a potential classic status to just another really good movie. This scene was actually painful to watch. It basically involves Benjamin Martin's oldest son, Gabriel (Heath Ledger) bursting into a church recruiting for a colonial militia. We've all seen this before - the obligatory "who's with me?" or a paraphrase of that, followed by silence, followed by the love interest in the movie (more on her later) who stands up and gives a really long and overly sappy patriotic speech. And as if that weren't bad enough, they just had to follow it with the overused cliché where nobody volunteers until one man stands up, and one by one others follow suit! I swear, when I get the DVD of this movie, I am seriously going to skip over that part just so I won't have to bear with the pain of having to endure it.

That one scene made all the other clichéd scenes in The Patriot look decent in comparison, but I might as well give them a mention as well. The "play dead, then roll over and lunge with a sword" idea, which is used in not one, but two major instances, is set up in a way that makes it almost unbearably predictable. And then there's every scene in which Anne (Lisa Brenner), Gabriel's love interest, appears. Of course there's the obligatory scene where they meet for the first time in years, and she gives him the cold shoulder... but we all know the two end up together at some point in the film due to a lot of heroism and letter-writing on Gabriel's part, and of course they do. Far too predictable.

And I won't even mention the excessive flag-waving near the end. It might work inside the United States, or so I presume. But it's another case of Independence Day/ Air Force One Syndrome - this kind of patriotist heroism, which borders on blatant propaganda, just does not work for non-American audiences.

Also, Tavington is too much of a "pure evil" villain. Yes, so was Commodus in Gladiator, but at least Commodus had motives behind his actions, and was developed far better as a character. Tavington, although quite chilling due to the fact that Jason Isaacs performs the role very well, lacked motive. His unidimensionality certainly does not help The Patriot at all.

Generally, the main problem with The Patriot is that it lacks ingenuity. There are simply too many recycled ideas and stock characters.

OVERALL

Despite the many flaws that plague this film, it remains excellent due to the fact that it has plenty of emotional power and other qualities that propel it. However, it is by no means a classic. What we have here is a very good period epic that will probably be remembered, but certainly does not deserve the same cult following that the superior Gladiator already has amongst film buffs.

Oh, and don't make the critical mistake of comparing this film to Braveheart. The Patriot is nowhere near that level.

"Why would I trade one tyrant three thousand miles away for three thousand tyrants one mile away?"
- Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson)

I'm seeing this movie today Thanks for the review

Hi IP,

I just saw the Patriot and enjoyed it. Like you I am also a big fan of historical epics in both films and literature. The Patriot did very well in my opinion in potraying the Revolutionary War. Potraying Loyalist, Potraying how at first many citizens didn't want to get involved, potraying the idea of one nation was not on the minds of the colonist, potraying the unorganization of the militia, potraying the pride of the English, etc, well I think you get the idea. And no even the Patriot wasn't completely accurate I must say it was far more accurate historically then Gladiator. Also a question what battle do you think the last big one was supposed to represent? I am guessing Saratoga because that was the turning point of the war and the victory influenced the French to finally come to the Colonists aid. Of course some thing don't fit with Saratoga it might have been a little too far North from SC (Saratoga is in NY) and I don't think General Cornwallis was at that battle. But still what do you think?

I will have to agree with you about fight scenes, though they were well done in the Patriot, I did think Gladiator was superior especially if you compare the first fight scene in Gladiator to the Last in Patriot (which in my opinion were the two big ones of both movies)

Back to the Patriot definetly dramatic, perhaps a little too dramatic but it definetly served its purpose. And I agree with you about the scene in the forest with the two boys and their father. Another scene that touched me was with the youngest daughter running after her father. These two scenes were extremely well done.

I also agree with you about the villian he was definetly easy to hate but I actually found another villian in the Patriot even more intriuiging then him or Commodus in the Gladiator and that was The Loyalist (forget his name or if he had one). Didn't you find it chilling how he stood and listened to their screams in the church. It made me wonder what was going through his mind at the time.


As for what movie is better Gladiator , Patriot, or even Brave Heart. Never ask me something like that :lol: I always find something remarkable in each, all different time periods as well so I won't even attempt to choose.



also I am going to have to disagree with you about quotes in this movie. For one I liked the one you picked but the one I am thinking about is "My Sons were" Great Line...........

Luv Always,
Gat

I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in (for what they're worth )

The Patriot is a decent movie, but it had a few very irritating trends.

(1)The film progressed from crises to crises so mechanically that you could almost set a stopwatch to each event. You came to know that nothing new would happen until the current emergency was solved. Then immediately after that problem was taken care of, a new, unrelated one would begin. Ten 15-minute short films.

(2)The director constantly cheesily conveyed emotions by facial closeups that lasted 30 minutes each (or way too long, at least). You get to know every line in every actors face. Over and over.

(3)After an eternity of knowing it was going to happen, A mute kid finally speaks ... I thought she was going to say "God bless us, everyone"

(4)Bad guy turns into 'scary movie bad guy' that gets up after terrible wounding. All he lacked was a hockey mask.

That's it .... watch it at the theater for the war shots, save the rest for video.

I still cringe when I think about the recruitment scene in the church. It headed all the flaws of the film that kept it from being really wonderful.

You just knew the patriotic music was gonna start, didn't you. Ack! Oop!

"Are you with me!!!??"!!!! - William Wallace

This movie was 'Braveheart' + 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'

So, what you are telling me is that I should bring some crackers along to go with all the cheese.

Well, I still think it's a real good movie...

It's just primarily that one wretched scene. There's some other cheesy moments other people have pointed out as well, but I didn't notice any of those because they were all overshadowed...

I saw this movie. I thought it was way too long. The music, as mentioned, wasn't quite up to Williams' par, and I think Gladiator's was better, even if they did steal it from Holst . Some of the scenes, including the one you mentioned, were cheesy. But overall it was good.