THE PATRIOT

COLUMBIA TRISTAR

RELEASED 14 July 2000

It is 1776 in South Carolina and former war hero Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson) is only concerned with the safety of his family and refuses to get involved with the approaching war with the British. That all changes when they commit war crimes on his doorstep and murder one of his sons. It’s time for Mel to ‘go loco’! Like an American Braveheart, The Patriot looks great, all sweeping plains covered in battling armies with gunshot fire in the night lighting up the fields like fireworks. The script is rousing and the British are led by a decent baddie in the form of Colonel Tavington (Jason Isaacs), who’ll use any dirty trick available to rid the war of Mel’s ‘Ghost’, a nickname given after wiping out a squad of twenty British virtually unseen. There’s one scene where Gibson talks of atrocities he committed himself in a former war which is extremely reminiscent of the ‘Indianapolis’ speech in Jaws, even the music is similar due to being composed by John Williams. The tone of the film changes suddenly more than once from love story to horrific murder and there are some great choreographed scenes of violence.The film does seems to be a patchwork of elements we’ve seen before though and while the sum total is an enjoyable romp, things could’ve been tightened up (especially at a running time of 2hrs 47mins).

THREE OUT OF FIVE