A
long movie released
Summer 2000, starring
Mel Gibson as a
bystander in the
American Revolutionary War who joins the
South Carolina militia after witnessing
atrocities committed on his
family by an evil
British Dragoon Colnel, played by
Jason Isaacs. As he takes
revenge, however, he is
haunted by the memories of atrocities that he himself committed in the
French and Indian War.
At the beginning of the film, as the Colonials are hosting a forum on whether South Carolina should join the revolt, Gibson's family man character casts a vote against, warning that the battles will be fought amongst the citizenry, and that no one will remain innocent of the carnage of war. Both the troops under Cornwallis and the militias fulfill this prophesy over the course of the movie, usually in graphic detail.
While director Roland Emmerich does not give the movie a classic Hollywood ending, he is not above employing some classic hollywood manipulation, giving long-winded pollyannaic speaches to doomed characters, and killing off innocent characters for no good reason so that we hate the British more.
I give this movie 3.5 stars out of five. If you liked Braveheart, then you'll like The Patriot, since they're pretty much exactly the same movie in different settings.