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The Patriot Customer Reviews (100 - 102 of 119 Reviews)

Patriotic Travasty
This movie had so much potential to give a balanced perspective of the emotional depths and divisions which marked our Revolutionary War. Unfortunately with mel Gibson at the helm, all we get is a silly Brave Heart set in the American Revolution. This is too bad, as the sets and costumes are quite well done, but all is for naught as we have all the mel gibson cliches of showing the British too be either arrogant buffoons, or nasty, petty killers. The revenge element in todays movies seems to be a Hollywood vehicle to dumb down historical content for the American viewer. This is unfortunate as i believe the American public could handle a more complex film and plot, but Hollywood does not think we can, so we get the same contrived stuff served up to us over and over again. The battle scenes, while impressive, are exaggerated. The numbers involved are too large. The Southern battles were fought with a few thousand on each side, and the Americans generally outnumbered the British and usually lost! Cornwallis was not the silly parody we see here, but one of the few daring and aggressive generals the British had. Washington rightly feared him because of the defeats he had administered to him several times. And the travasty of Lord Tavington burning innocent colonials in their church is a take off on the Nazi's in WW2! It has no place in this period! Such scenes like this show how immature and inbalanced the movie producers were in this film. Tavington is a corruption of Banastere Tarleton, the hard-ridding Britsih dragoon officer, who was controversial in some of his actions, but not a cold-blooded maniac-nazi that we have here, and of course mel has to get him in the end! Mel Gibson steals the historical roles of several American leaders, providing even more distortion in this film. I would say view this movie for fun and entertainment, and nothing more, its a like a cartoon in many respects. I think the American viewers deserve a better effort than this!

Pretty Good
For one thing, I'm glad the movie industry is trying to raise interest in the Revolution. After all, it was the most important war we ever fought in, and should be given some screen time. The Patriot was an ok movie...costumes were great, battle scenes, all the visually appealing stuff was...visually appealing. The story was even well told, despite the overly done cliches and some very, VERY big inaccuracies. Yet, the best part of the movie for me, were the supporting characters. Chris Cooper was excellent as Col. Burwell, and personified American leadership at that time...brave, confused and unsure at times, but above all, willing to die for the cause. Tcheky Karyo (probably misspelled it, sorry) was also great as Maj. Villeneuve, and showed just how much the French sacrificed to help the Americans win. Gibson has never been a favorite of mine, and his character was just a little predicatble. The same applies Heath Ledger, who seems to have been cast for eye candy only (Though he does play his part passably). My two major complaints are the sugar-coating of the Revolution...I think they should have just made Gibson's character into Francis Marion, instead of trying to make him into this peace-loving, family minded farmer. Of course, it would be un-PC to show a Patriot who wasn't a saint, but that's the way things were...it's how we won the war, anyway. I really think they should have spent more time on the actual Revolution, not just Gibson's personal problems. My second and biggest complaint was the ANNOYING sister-in-law who's sole purpose seems to thrust her heaving bosom into the camera. She had no point, and totally detracted some value from the movie. But, overall, a good film about the Revolution that will hopefully spurn more

So It's Not Perfect...Who Cares?
This is one of my favorite historical action/adventure flicks of all time! Sure, if you're a historian, you'll probably pick up some minor details that are off, but aren't most historical action flicks innacuracte in some way? (As long as the basic look is right, then I'm happy!)

It's got revenge, it's got a recluctant, guilt ridden hero, it's got a great tomahowk & knife versus (several) bayonets fight (my favorite scene, 'cause it looks like Mel Gibson is doing a frontier colonial American's version of martial-arts!), a pretty love interest who's nice, lovable, & not much else, a ruthless villain, & real-life historical figures interacting with the fictional leads. And it's got a (not so sublte) propaganda message, mixed in mix modern-day politically correct revisionist history. (Slavery is addressed.)

Are the dialogue, characters & situations cliches? You bet! But it's an action movie, so that's what we want! (I especially laughed at the fact that all the British were snobs! Sure, it's a stereo-type, but it's funny!)

If only high-school history class was this exciting!

Buy it!

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