The Patriot is the attempt at a prestige picture by Roland Emmerich who specializes in decidedly not so prestigious affairs as this film followed up Stargate. Independence Day, and Godzilla. Well I'll take the prestige attempt over those blockbusters, though I'll admit it has an advantage in that it's about the Revolutionary War. I won't lie, you set a film then and you already have my interest due to how few films are made about that war. Now this film decides to take that and basically also take 90's Mel Gibson to give us Braveheart meets the Revolutionary War. Not on that point the action here is also rather visceral and quite effective here. Like Braveheart it reduces the story mostly down to that of good and evil, with some more complex notions hanging by a few threads. This one matches this by giving us a downright viciously evil villain, well played by Jason Isaacs, for one man to seek his revenge against well participating in war. The film works in that's fun, even if it makes the Red coats more than a little Naziesque. The emotional currents in the story are often broad to be sure, yet still work largely due to Gibson's committed performance. Is it bloated? Sure. Is it the most intelligent film on the topic? No. Is it entertaining though? I'd say yes.
4/5
No comments:
Post a Comment