Salon
A grand yarn with a sense of the weight of history and an awareness that the winners are often those who have lost the most.
Full review
The Patriot
Mel Gibson plays American Civil War hero Benjamin Martin, who's forced to take up arms again when his family is torn apart by the savage British redcoats during the American Revolution.
He recruits a band of reluctant volunteers, including his idealistic young son (Heath Ledger), and begins a daring and dangerous assault on the British forces in a fight for freedom and revenge.
2000Rating: MA15+, Medium level violence, adult themes158 minsUSA, Germany
DramaWar
- Director:
- Roland Emmerich ('Independence Day', '2012', 'Godzilla', 'The Day After Tomorrow')
- Cast:
- Mel GibsonRene AuberjonoisTom WilkinsonChris CooperJoely RichardsonTcheky KaryoHeath LedgerJason Isaacs
The Patriot / Reviews
San Francisco Chronicle
Emmerich's battle scenes may look authentic... but in every other way the film is long, empty and bogus.
Full reviewChicago Tribune
A huge, bloody, 2-hour-and-40-minute battle epic, lavishly appointed and beautifully shot.
Full review
Hollywood Reporter
Gibson gives a mechanically precise but soulless performance in which he seems more concerned with how he looks than what his character is thinking or feeling.
Full review
The New York Times
A gruesome hybrid, a mix of sentimentality and brutality that suggests a Lethal Weapon movie directed by Norman Rockwell.
Full review
The Washington Post
There's no majesty, no tragedy, no feeling here; it's all FX and costuming and casting directors.
Full review
Village Voice
A movie of cornball sentiment, humorously anachronistic dialogue, and expensive Colonial Williamsburg sets.
Full review
Roger Ebert
It is rousing and entertaining, and you get your money's worth, but there isn't an idea in it that will stand up to thoughtful scrutiny.
Full review
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