The Patriot (2000)
As you’d suspect from a Mel Gibson movie, The Patriot is extremely violent and bloody. Since I didn’t see it in the theaters, I managed to either hide my eyes or fast-forward the grisly parts, and I’d recommend my fellow lightweight viewers to do the same. I’d also recommend that all those who want to retain a neutral or high opinion of Jason Isaacs should skip this movie altogether. He plays such a horrible, heartless villain, it’s a guarantee you’ll hate him forever. Since I was lucky to have a watching companion who knew exactly when to fast-forward, I still view Isaacs as a talented, handsome actor instead of an evil one.
Gibson is a South Carolinan widower who works his land and looks after his seven children. He doesn’t support the Revolutionary War and doesn’t want to participate, since he thinks it’s just fine to be a British colony. This film seems to carry a particular beef with the British, as it repeatedly shows them carry out horrid, inhuman war tactics. The message might as well be, “In case you thought Americans were just whining about taxes, we’ll show you what the British really did!” But what the movie fails to take into account is that both sides at war do horrid, inhuman things. All’s fair in love and war, remember? Americans have done unconscionable things in the name of war, but very few movies have dared to paint our “glorious country” in a bad light.
But back to the movie, the extremely biased love letter to our Revolutionary soldiers. Gibson’s oldest son Heath Ledger joins the colonist’s side of the war against his wishes. Ledger gets wounded, but when Jason Isaacs finds out he plans on going home to recuperate, he follows him with some soldiers and arrests him as a deserter, orders all the slaves on the land to be killed and the house to be burned. Oh, and he also kills Ledger’s brother for trying to help him. After that, everyone in the audience hates Jason Isaacs forever and completely supports Gibson when he finally joins the colonists and fights.
With all the horrendous violence in the two-and-a-half hour film, I really only watched about forty minutes. I always like to see good acting, and while everyone in the movie gives a top-notch performance, I can’t say it was worth it. I’m very glad I didn’t see any more of it than I did, and I can’t caution enough your own viewer discretion.
Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to violence and upsetting scenes involving children, I wouldn’t let my kids watch it.
More Heath Ledger movies here!
Gibson is a South Carolinan widower who works his land and looks after his seven children. He doesn’t support the Revolutionary War and doesn’t want to participate, since he thinks it’s just fine to be a British colony. This film seems to carry a particular beef with the British, as it repeatedly shows them carry out horrid, inhuman war tactics. The message might as well be, “In case you thought Americans were just whining about taxes, we’ll show you what the British really did!” But what the movie fails to take into account is that both sides at war do horrid, inhuman things. All’s fair in love and war, remember? Americans have done unconscionable things in the name of war, but very few movies have dared to paint our “glorious country” in a bad light.
But back to the movie, the extremely biased love letter to our Revolutionary soldiers. Gibson’s oldest son Heath Ledger joins the colonist’s side of the war against his wishes. Ledger gets wounded, but when Jason Isaacs finds out he plans on going home to recuperate, he follows him with some soldiers and arrests him as a deserter, orders all the slaves on the land to be killed and the house to be burned. Oh, and he also kills Ledger’s brother for trying to help him. After that, everyone in the audience hates Jason Isaacs forever and completely supports Gibson when he finally joins the colonists and fights.
With all the horrendous violence in the two-and-a-half hour film, I really only watched about forty minutes. I always like to see good acting, and while everyone in the movie gives a top-notch performance, I can’t say it was worth it. I’m very glad I didn’t see any more of it than I did, and I can’t caution enough your own viewer discretion.
Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to violence and upsetting scenes involving children, I wouldn’t let my kids watch it.
More Heath Ledger movies here!