The Patriot Review

by Jeremy Stomberg

Finally! Devlin and Emmerich make a good movie!

After four big budget pieces of crap (Universal Soldier, Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla), they have made one that features great acting (by Mel Gibson, even!), great cinematography, great editing, great special effects, and...wonder of wonders, a plot!

The film, unlike their previous works, focuses on a few key characters instead of their normal scattershot attepts at Altman-esque ensemble pieces. With fewer main characters, there is time for development of said characters and enough care taken in the storytelling for us to care about them. All this set on the grand, sweeping battlefields and guerilla combat of the Revolutionary War.

This is a personal story. A story of a man who has lost too much, but will give even more for a chance at freedom for his children. A story of a relationship between a father and his children, who are too much like him for his own taste. A story of the people that too often are forgotten amid the famous generals that are in the history books.

The Patriot had its clichés, which are my personal pet peeves - things that can ruin an otherwise good film for me - but they were few and far between. All in all, a very strong first film. Too bad it was their fifth.