Review of The Patriot (2000) by Jorge Eduardo S — 27 Jul 2012

Colonel William Tavington: Let it be known if you harbor the enemy you will lose your home. .

"Some things are worth fighting for.".

I have seen The Patriot countless times by now, and yet I still love it. While a lot of epics seem distant and cold, this one has an amazing amount of heart involved. That isn't to say that it isn't the violent war film it is notable for. There's an extreme amount of blood, but in between the battles, there's also an extreme amount of feeling. The film is long, but not a second is wasted. There's always something going on. If there isn't a battle going on, there's character development or plot development. This film is as much about family as it is about the Revolutionary War. There's a humungous cast of good actors, some big names(Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Tom Wilkinson) and a variety of other character actors(Joely Richardson, Donald Logue). Besides being just another war movie, this has a lot more going on. It's at times beautiful, at times brutal, at times sad, at times humorous, and at times exciting. .

The Patriot centers the Revolutionary War around a man named Benjamin Martin and his involvement in the war. At first he doesn't want South Carolina to go to war along with some of the other colonies because he knows innocent people will die. When the war happens in his front yard and one of his sons is murdered by Tavington(a truly good villain), he joins up. The Continental Army is vastly undermanned, which brings up the usage of guerilla warfare, which Martin and his militia use to great effectiveness. His men aren't real soldiers, but "farmers." They are just ordinary men who join up to fight off the Redcoats.

The most notable thing about the film is obviously the battle scenes. They are violent and pretty realistic. The battle scenes are filmed beautifully, for lack of a better word. This is easily Ronald Emmerich's best film. He's done some other stuff that is fun, but not what you'd call great filmmaking(Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012), but this is grand, epic filmmaking. I know there's a lot of people out there that don't believe this film to be great, but I certainly don't agree with them. As far as war epics go, this is about as big and good as they can come. I'm not saying it is the best war movie ever, but it deserves more respect then it has gotten.

It's an emotionally powerful movie in my opinion. Sure it shows a fictionalized story on how America came to be through the Revolutionary War, but the family themes of the movie is what shine through more then anything else. There's a lot of big themes going on here too: freedom, love, honor, respect, revenge, and perseverance; but in the end, family is the biggest theme. The Patriot just misses being a complete masterpiece, but as it is, it's still an amazing achievement and a great film.