MovieChat Forums > The Patriot (2000) Discussion > Decent film; but highly flawed

Decent film; but highly flawed

posted 2 years ago by redban (5301)
6 replies | jump to latest

The movie has awesome visuals, and Mel Gibson was great. Yet there are huge flaws. The movie is called “The Patriot,” and there are scenes that push patriotism, such as the scene where Mel Gibson and others wave the American flag. Yet the main character fought for revenge, not patriotism. The other issue is the historical inaccuracy. The movie portrayed the British as comparable to Nazis when the reality is different. Lastly, the Movie downplayed the importance of the French. The Americans were not equipped to go toe to toe with the British, as this movie suggested. The French were the ones who really defeated the British.

6/10

[–] cyberbob (3488) 2 years ago

Yeah, I don't consider this to be a true "historical" movie, it's just a costumed Action movie by Roland Emmerich

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8364) 2 years ago

It's an awesome movie, but to appreciate it you have to understand that it's an American fantasy, not a serious historically-accurate film.

It looks great, has cool battle scenes, has great characters brought to life by great actors, it's well-paced and the story is engaging. I enjoy it thoroughly every time I watch it and think it's easily Roland Emmerich's second-best film after Independence Day.

[–] cyberbob (3488) 2 years ago

Even if it's American fantasy, it's a very weird fantasy. It has melodramatic death scenes of good guys scattered throughout most of the runtime. I have to assume that it was done in reaction to the success of Saving Private Ryan, because otherwise I have to assume that my fellow Americans get off on seeing themselves as both absurdly persecuted and absurdly heroic

An entire village of people is burned alive, a guy commits suicide in reaction to said burning incident, and you get two different death scenes for the main character's sons

I agree that the movie is awesome. Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Jason Isaacs, and Tom Wilkinson. You can't lose. But this movie goes beyond mere fantasy, it's blatant propaganda

[–] BourbonKing (5675) 2 years ago

It's basically a States-side "Braveheart" but instead of a lost loved one to an evil empire it's about a lost heir at the hands of a brutal regime.

[–] Gd5150 (11190) a year ago

Yeah it was pretty good. Could’ve been great. Had some really cheesy dialog that brought it down.

[–] Mustang (5257) a year ago

I never expected it to be a documentary. It's an entertaining film which if made today would be full of Woke speeches and "lessons".